Topi 


Tl^e 


V--^^-^' 


l^pisode  ai^d  ottier 


"A  steadier  rider  never  threw  her  limb  o'er  leather, 
She  was  g-ame  to  pound  through  any  kind  of  weather, 
L«ass  of  promise,  she." 

Reicinj,  Hui7t!i7s(>  Steeplecb^isiosif 
Club  Life,  etc. 


BY 


m 


ILLUSTRATED. 


iillllliiliiiillllliillililililiilli 

3  9090  013  420  837 


•n 


Webster  Family  Ubrary  of  ^^^^}^ 
Cummings  Scho6!  ot  Veterinary  ^AedlClne  at 

Tufts  University/ 
200VfcstbQfO:Roao 


Th^   Toi^R^ANCn-Clyl^NDnNNm    ^PI^OD^ 


Thb  i^ni5vii.i.n  i5nTTnR3> 


RACING,  HUNTING,  STKEPLIiCHASING,  CIvUBS, 
AND    CLUB    LIFE,  ETC. 


Pastime  for  princes!  prime  sport  of  our  nation 
Strength  in  their  sinew,  and  bloom  on  their  cheek ; 

Health  to  the  old,  to  the  young-  recreation  ; 
All  for  enjoj-ment  the  hunting  field  seek. 

Eager  and  emulous  only,  not  spiteful, 

Grudging  no  friend,  though  ourselves  he  may  beat 
Just  enough  danger  to  make  sport  delightful 

Toil  just  suiEcient  to  make  slumber  sweet." 


CLARENCE    D.    LEVEY. 

(MBI.VII.I.K.) 


Copyright,  1892,  C.  D.  Levey. 


mmmm\m 

1441  BROADWAY, 

NEW  YORK. 


To  Jamks  Gordon  Be;nnett,  to  whom  all  lovers 
of  manly  sports  on  land  and  water  owe  a  debt  of 
g-ratitude.  The  g-enerosity  of  his  nature  and  the 
encouragement  he  has  given  to  manly  athletic  out 
door  life  in  every  quarter  of  the  world,  are  too 
well  known  to  require  more  than  mere  mention. 
This  encouragement  to  healthy  out  door  life  has 
left  its  favorable  mark  wherever  James  Gordon 
Bknnktt  has  made  his  home,  and  it  is  with  this 
in  mind  that  this  dedication  is  made  with  the 
highest   esteem  of   the   author. 


PR^PACC. 


^  I  ^HE  pages  of  this  book  contain  records  of  events 
■*-  which  actually  took  place  just  as  they  are  de- 
scribed. 

The  author  hopes  that  these  stories  will  appeal  to 
that  increasing-  class  of  Americans  who  enjoy  club  life 
and  have  both  the  inclination  and  the  leisure  to  make 
the  noblest  of  the  brute  creation,  the  horse  and  the 
dog-,   their   companions  in   sport   and   field. 

The  bonds  of  sympathetic  aifection  which  link  hu- 
manity with  these,  its  most  devoted  friends  among-  the 
animals,  have  never  been  more  profoundly  felt  than  at 
this  time.  The  author  will  feel  amply  repaid  if  these 
"o'er  true  tales,"  shall  give  the  reader  as  much  pleas- 
ure in  perusing   as   he  has   found   in   their   writing. 

Some  of  these  sketches  have  appeared  in  print  before 
in  different  American  and  Ejnglish  journals,  and  the 
author  begs  to  thank  his  former  publishers  for  their 
courtesy  in  allowing  this  reproduction. 


INDEX. 


FAGB 

The  Torrance-Clendennin  Episode 5 

Diana  on  Horseback 29 

With  the  Foxhounds 38 

The  Objects  of  Racing 43 

American  and  English  Horses 51 

Anecdotes  of  the  Turf 56 

Hints  for  Drivers 61 

Experts  on  Horseback 64 

Horse  Dealers'  Tricks 69 

Pranks  of  English  Bloods 74 

English  Turf  Stories 77 

Clubs  and  Club  lyife 83 

They  Ride  to  Hounds 88 

Falconry  in  England 92 

Across  Hill  and  Dale 95 

Riders  of  Good  Stock 100 

The  Thoroughbreds'  Decline 106 

Jockej's  and  Racers 110 

Racing  as  it  Was  and  Is 115 

Retrospect.    With  Fox  and  Hounds,  Here  and  There. .121 

Canines'  Fine  Points 125 

Whips  of  High  Degree 129 

Our  Social  Skeletons 133 

Stories  from  the  Stables 138 

Dining  at  the  Clubs 143 

Farming  for  Pleasure 148 

The  Decline  of  the  Thoroughbred,  (Second  I<etter). . .  .153 


"A  steadier  rider  never  threw  her  limb  o'er  leather 
She  was  g-ame  to  pound  throug-h  any  kind  of  weather, 
Lass  of  promise,  she." 

Tbe  Torrance-Clen^iennio  Episocle. 


A  HUNTING  STORY. 

^'^'HE  holidays  were  upon  us,  and  the  brig'ht 
I  |"\  crispy  weather  was  too  inviting-  to  remain  in 
^^  doors.  We  were  a  cheery  party  who  were  fox 
hunting-  from  the  little  town  of  Astoria.  There  were 
different  sets  scattered  about  in  the  various  hostelries, 
and  we  were  all  upon  the  best  of  terms  with  one 
another,  dancing-  at  each  other's  rooms  and  enjoying- 
the  g-ood  sport  which  the  open  weather  was  affording- 
us  with  all  the  zest  imag-inable.  I  was  one  of  a 
household  of  three  or  four  who  had  thrown  in  their 
lots  together.  We  hit  it  off  admirably,  and  I  wish  to 
say  that  I  could  not  desire  to  follow  the  sport  of  king-s 
under  more  happy  auspices  than  I  did  that  season. 

On  the  Thursday  morning-,  the  eventful  date  of 
my  tale,  the  meet  was  about  ten  miles  distant — rather 
farther  than  usual,  being-  what  is  termed  a  "fixture" 
of  a  pack,  with  which  we  seldom  hunted,  as  their 
country  lay  too  wide  for  us.  Newcastle  was  the  one 
meet  which  did  come  within  our  reach — an  outside  one 
for  the  master  and  his  hounds,  but  a  very  favorite  one 


6  The  T0RRANCE-C1.ENDENNIN  Episode. 

v/ith  us  from  the  New  York  side,  and  we  invariably 
patronized  it  in  full  force.  This  day  was  no  excep- 
tion, and  as  we  rode  from  Garden  City  the  road,  both 
in  front  and  behind,  was  dotted  with  pink  and  black, 
all  bent  upon  the  same  errand.  The  morning-  was 
sunny,  and  yet  the  scent  lay  well  and  g-ave  us  g-ood 
hopes  of  a  fine  run,  and  nothing-  but  a  clear  conscience 
and  the  knowledge  of  being  on  a  good  one  could  be 
wanting  to  make  a  man  feel  that  he  was  about  to 
partake  of  one  of  the  greatest  pleasures  in  existence. 
Arriving  at  the  meet,  the  greetings  and  handshakings 
were  perhaps  more  numerous  than  usual,  as  those  who 
hunted  regularly  with  the  pack  seldom  came  out  on 
our  side;  so  we  saw  them  less  frequently,  and  were, 
therefore,  more  cordial  in  our  greetings  and  had  more 
to  say.  Punctuality,  however,  put  a  stop  to  all  this; 
and  as  the  master,  by  considering  his  watch,  had  found 
the  time  up,  at  11  to  the  minute  we  began  to  clear  the 
way,  gently  admonished  of  the  fact  that  our  horses 
were  yet  fresh,  and  might  strike  out  by  the  "Hounds 
please,  gentlemen,"  of  Morgan,  the  first  whip.  The 
way  clear,  off  we  trotted  to  Hempstead  ridge,  an  ex- 
cellent stubble  covert — invariably  a  safe  find,  and  a 
good  place  to  get  away  from.  True  to  its  reputation, 
there  was  the  welcome  music  in  a  very  short  time 
after  hounds  had  been  thrown  in,  and  all  were  very 
busy  tightening  girths,  fitting  their  hats  more  se- 
curely on  to  their  heads,  seeing  that  martingales  were 
removed,  excepting  for  sky  scrapers,  and  for  them 
loosened  out,  and  stirrups  comfortable,  preparatory 
to  a  start. 


The  Torrance-CIvEndennin  Episode.  7 

A  short  g-allop  down  one  hill,  owing-  to  a  false 
alarm,  and  then  the  anything-  but  welcome  "who- 
hoop'*  which  sounded  the  deathknell  of  the  only  fox 
that  morning-  in  the  covert.  He  had  made  up  his 
mind  to  g-o.  But  alas!  the  very  spot  he  chose  to  make 
his  exit  he  found  tenanted  by  a  * 'Johnny  fresh,"  who, 
eager  to  see  as  much  of  the  fun  as  possible,  and  as 
much  as  the  "g-ents  on  'orseback,"  had  made  his  way 
to  the  covert  side,  and,  by  dint  of  his  g-reat  excite- 
ment, manifested  upon  viewing-  him,  frig-htened  the 
poor  little  red  animal  back  into  the  jaws  of  his  pursuers. 
Luckily  this  is  not  a  country  now  tenanted  by  a  single 
fox.  The  farmers  have  become  friends  of  fox  hunters 
to  boot.  So  our  first  disappointment  was  merely 
hope  deferred.  However,  the  morning  grew  on  apace, 
and  still  we  hadn't  had  our  gallop.  Some  of  the 
Garden  City  truckmen  had  seen  a  nice  red  fox  lying  in 
a  turnip  field.  We  drew  for  him;  but,  as  is  generally 
the  case,  he  was  not  there  when  called  upon.  In  a 
batch  of  gorse  about  five  miles  away  from  the  place 
where  we  met  our  hopes  were  again  revived  by  the 
notes  of  an  old  hound,  and  then  a  rattling  chorus 
followed  by  welcome  "Gone  away!"  from  Morgan  on 
the  bottom  side. 

Luck  would  seem  to  be  dead  against  us.  No 
sooner  were  we  well  away,  with  hounds  running  like 
fun  below,  then  we  came  to  an  abrupt  termination  at 
an  old  pit,  where  the  goats  and  rabbits  ruminated, 
and  where  in  their  revels  and  assiduity  they  had 
burrowed  holes  large  enough  to  take  in  their  wily 
enemy  and  a  couple  of  hounds  after  him.     This  was 


8  The  T0RRANCE-C1.ENDENNIN  Episode. 

very  tantalizing-.  The  best  thing-  to  do  was  to  eat 
lunch,  drink  a  bottle  of  the  incomparable  McMuUen's 
white  label  Bass'  ale,  and  see  if  the  soothing-  influence 
of  g-ood  cig-ars  would  not  make  matters  look  a  little 
more  optimistical.  The  master  held  a  short  consul- 
tation with  one  or  two  in  the  field,  and  then  made 
up  his  mind  for  a  three-mile  trot  to  Daumslej.  What 
was  to  be  done  now  ?  The  day  only  half  gone,  the 
inner  man  refreshed,  the  second  horse  unused  and 
much  too  fresh  for  the  comfort  of  the  second  horse- 
man, and  a  day  apparently  wasted. 

*'What  are  you  g-oing-  to  do,  Cortlandt?  Are  you 
going-  on.  Flirt,  or  are  we  to  go  home  and  try  those 
Monaco  playing  cards  at  the  club  ?" 

Most  of  our  set  decided  on  the  latter,  and  I, 
together  with  Cortlandt  and  Miss  Torrance  and  her 
younger  brother,  who  hailed  from  close  to  our  little 
town,  were  the  only  ones  left  to  represent  the  honor 
and  glory  of  Meadowbrook  as  we  trotted  along  gayly 
on  our  second  horses  to  Daumsley. 

Young  Aleck  was  home  from  school  for  his  holi- 
days, and  having  improved  the  morning  by  jumping 
and  galloping  on  every  available  opportunity,  had 
quite  done  up  his  father's  old  horse  on  which  he  was 
mounted.  But  he  had  an  idea,  and  when  it  was  found 
that  we  were  off  to  Daumsley  to  draw  again,  and  with 
equal  certainty  to  find,  he  proceeded  to  put  his  idea 
into  practice,  and  coming  quietly  alongside  his  sister, 
began  to  explain  to  her  that  his  horse  was  too  done  to 
go  so  far.  Why  should  she  mind  her  groom  taking 
him    home   and  letting   him  ride  John's   horse.     He 


The  Torrance-Ci^endennin  I^pisode.  9 

would  take  care  of  her,  you  know,  and  he  was  sure  the 
g-overnor  would  not  mind.  He  did  so  want  to  g-o  on  ; 
it  was  nearly  his  last  day.  What  could  the  g-ood- 
natured  g-irl  say  to  such  a  pitiful  entreaty? 

The  exchang-e  was  not  long-  in  being-  effected,  and 
I  vow  the  young*ster  was  as  full  of  g-o  and  jump  as 
ever,  confident  in  the  sensation  that  he  was  on  a  fresh 
horse,  and  moreover  on  a  g-ood  hunter,  which  he  was 
seldom  allowed  to  bestride,  as  his  father  knew  only  too 
well  what  his  offspring-'s  propensities  were,  and,  to 
tell  the  truth  was  secretly  rather  proud  of  them, 
thoug-h  he  did  occasionally  find  them  expensive. 
"Trot  on,  Dick,  and  g-et  to  that  big-  oak  tree.  You 
mind  that  cross  ride,  Aleck.  I'll  look  after  this  side." 
The  master  gives  his  instructions,  Cortlandt,  who  is 
now  acting-  as  first  whip,  g-ives  the  hounds  the  signal 
and  here  we  are,  feeling,  it  must  be  admitted,  rather 
rash,  drawing  for  a  fresh  fox  at  2:45  p.  m.,  a  good 
fifteen  miles  or  more  away  from  home.  In  for  a  penny, 
in  for  a  pound;  and  once  having  transgressed  the 
dictates  of  common  sense  by  coming  on,  we  get  bold, 
and  inwardly  hope  that  we  have  a  rattler  to  reward  us 
for  our  misdoing,  finishing  we  don't  care  where,  so 
long  as  we  can  go  home  and  say:  "You  fellows  were 
duffers  not  to  come  on  to  Daumsley;  you  missed  the 
very  best  thing  we've  had  or  are  likely  to  have  this 
season." 

Whether  we  are  able  to  crow  or  not  the  sequel 
will  show ;  but  while  I  am  making  all  taut  and 
trim,  and  addressing  a  few  common  place  remarks  to 
Miss  Torrance,  before  receiving  a  warning  note  from 


10  The  T0RRANCE-C1.ENDENNIN  Episode. 

the  busy  pack,  Aleck's  cap  is  in  the  air,  and  the  master, 
g-alloping-  to  the  bottom  end,  is  making  his  horn  do  its 
utmost  to  put  Cortlandt  and  his  beauties  on  the  line  as 
speedily  as  possible.  "Forrard  away!  Forrard  away! 
Ger  away,  huic!  Ger  away,  huic!  "  Cortlandt  is  letting- 
them  have  it,  those  that  would  wish  to  loiter  in  covert, 
as  he  has  no  wish  to  be  left  behind  in  the  good  thing, 
and,  if  he  can  only  see  all  out  before  him,  will  soon 
make  up  his  last  start  by  a  species  of  hanging  on  the 
head,  ramming  in  the  spurs,  "  come  up,  '  oss  "  reckless 
style  of  riding,  which  seems  to  be  the  especial  per- 
quisite of  the  second  whip. 

"  He's  along  that  second  fence,  sir,"  says  Aleck, 
and  almost  before  he  has  time  to  point  out  the  line, 
old  Headline  tops  the  four-rails  laid  fence  out  of  the 
covert,  with  a  deep  full  voice  gives  the  cue  to  the  rest 
of  the  pack,  who  know  well  that  she  never  does  make 
a  fool  of  them,  and  streaming  down  the  fallow  side  at 
their  best  pace  follow  her  with  a  peal  of  music,  which 
is  capable  of  stringing  up  the  nerves  and  stirring  the 
feelings  of  a  man  who  loves  to  follow  hounds  more 
than  could  the  strains  of  a  martial  band.  Swinging 
to  the  right,  under  the  second  fence,  we  are  down  in 
the  water  meadows  and  parallel  with  the  second  brook 
until  a  second  thought  seems  to  have  struck  our  little 
friend  and  he  turns  short  to  the  left  again,  and  after 
giving  the  hounds  time  to  struggle  in  and  out  of  the 
water,  the  front  rank  ride  at  it  at  twenty  miles  an 
hour.  Miss  Torrance,  coming  out  of  the  crowd  like  a 
bullet,  takes  a  firm,  strong  hold  of  her  horse,  shows 
them  the  way  over,  and  the  field  follow  after  without 


The  Torrance-Clendennin  Episode.  11 

a  mistake,  leave  twelve  feet  of  water— which,  no 
doubt,  after  dinner  to-night  will  be  mag-nified  by  some 
into  eig-hteen— behind,  with  two  or  three  feet  to  spare. 
There  is  no  jealousy  ;  all  are  riding-  fair,  and  for  the 
most  part  taking-  their  own  line,  as  there  are  but  few 
of  us. 

Miss  Torrance  is  riding-  quietly  and  awfully  in 
earnest,  as  she  always  seems  to  be.  She  has  not  con- 
fidence in  her  brother  as  a  guide  over  the  intricacies 
of  this  proverbially  awkward  country,  but  has  selec- 
ted Clendennin  as  her  pilot,  and  follows  closely  beside 
him.  Forward  they  go.  There  is  no  mistake  as  to 
the  pace.  The  fencing,  it's  true,  is  light,  but  so  it 
needs  be  for  the  field  to  keep  up  with  them  as  they 
are  running  now.  Already  plenty  have  turned  off  the 
pursuit;  some  from  want  of  pluck,  others  from  lack  of 
a  good  enough  mount,  but  all  with  an  excuse  they 
think  is  sufficient  to  absolve  them  for  not  being 
in  it.  Most  of  us  would  be  pleased  to  find  there 
was  a  check,  but  it  is  not  destined  to  be  so  yet 
awhile,  nor  indeed  until  we  have  been  running  forty 
minutes. 

At  the  end  of  that  period  we  run  into  a  gorse,  by 
name,  ''Zborowski's  Rough,"  and  as  the  fox  dwells 
there  for  a  few  minutes,  and  it  is  very  thick,  he  gives 
the  horses  a  chance  to  get  their  second  wind,  or,  I 
should  almost  say,  their  third,  and  ourselves  time  to 
repair  damages,  mop  off  our  heated  brows,  make  our- 
selves as  spruce  as  possible  and  look  around  and  see 
what  havoc  has  been  created  with  our  followers  in  the 
chase. 


12  The  Torrance-Ci^endennin  Episode. 

Morgan  has  been  well  into  it,  cutting-  out  most  of 
the  work  so  far  ;  but  his  horse  shows  unmistakably 
that  he  has  had  nearly  enough,  and  the  spasmodic 
heaving  of  his  sides,  the  nervous  quivering  of  his  tail 
and  the  stretched  out  position  which  he  has  assumed, 
tell  a  story  to  his  rider  that  he  will  be  wise  to  pull  up 
in  time.  *'Hard  lines  to  have  to  stop,  but  there's  no 
help  for  it,  old  fellow.  You'll  settle  your  horse  else." 
Young  Torrance,  too,  is  among  the  list  of  missing — a 
ditch  with  a  rail  that  looked  like  poplar  and  weak, 
having  proved  to  be  oak  as  tough  as  the  heart  of  a 
widow  (who  finds  the  "coming  of  the  crows  feet,  means 
the  backward  turn  of  beaux  feet")  the  result  being 
disastrous  to  a  blown  horse.  His  sister  sits  quietly  at 
the  side  of  the  gorse,  looking,  excepting  for  the 
heightened  color  and  the  mud  stains  on  her  habit,  as 
if  she  had  only  been  out  for  a  hack  ride,  though  her 
horse's  open  nostrils  tell  a  different  tale  and  bear  tes- 
timony to  the  fast  forty-five  minutes.  I  am  well 
mounted  to-day  on  a  horse  I  would  certainly  take  in 
preference  to  any  in  my  stud  to  fight  through  such  a 
run  as  this.  But  even  he  has  quite  as  much  as  he 
cares  about  and  would,  I  feel  assured,  prefer  a  bucket 
of  warm  gruel  and  a  homeward  ride  to  a  continuance 
of  the  sport.  Yet  I  don't  know.  See  how  he  pulls 
himself  together,  cocks  his  ears  and  plays  the  dandy 
as  he  hears  the  hounds  singing  away  in  the  covert. 

I  chaff  Miss  Torrance  about  the  guardian  under 
whose  protection  she  has  placed  herself,  and  agree 
with  her  that  boys  of  Aleck's  age  must  come  to  grief, 
and  the  theory  that  all  such  boys  invariably  turn  up 


The  Torrance-Clendexnin  Episode.  13 

all  rigfht,  like  a  duly  labeled  package  of  merchandise, 
this  side  up  with  care,  dirty,  but  otherwise  none  the 
worse  for  mishap.  A  charming*  lady  once  spoke  of 
him  as  "being-  like  a  rubber  ball."  We  are  quite  at 
sea,  both  of  us,  as  to  our  bearing's,  and  I  would  not 
have  been  able  to  explain  quite  so  glibly  that  the 
gorse  was  called  "  Zborowski's  Rough"  had  I  not 
ascertained  the  fact  from  Cortlandt  as  we  rode  up 
toward  it. 

Our  check  had  now  lasted  ten  minutes,  the 
hounds  again  were  silent,  and  we  were  beginning  to 
speculate  whether  the  end  had  really  come  or  not, 
when  a  single  hound,  casting  on  its  own  account 
forward  in  the  next  field,  disclosed  the  intelligence 
that  our  quarry  had  given  us  the  slip  and  gone  aw^ay. 
How  ?  We  can  scarcely  imagine.  He  must  either 
have  escaped  the  vigilance  of  Cortlandt  (which  is 
improbable)  or  (which  is  far  more  likely)  he  has 
threaded  the  way  down  the  ditch  overgrown  with 
brambles,  and  thus  cleverly  obtained  another  start. 

Gone  he  is,  there  is  no  mistake  ;  so  we  must  go 
after  him.  The  going,  up  to  this  point,  had  been 
excellent,  for  we  had  been  running  along  the  ridge 
after  leaving  the  valley  behind  us  ;  but  now  things 
took  a  turn  for  the  w^orse.  We  were  down  on  a  plain 
which  had  more  than  its  share  of  plowed  land,  ditches 
big  enough  to  engulf  not  alone  a  horse,  but  a  cart 
and  driver  with  it.  Evidently  the  land  hereabout 
was  of  precious  little  value.  A  cold  clay  soil,  with 
the  appearance  of  hardly  having  worth  sufficient  to 
plow  up.     The  fences  were  neglected,  and  had  evi- 


14  The  T0RRANCE-C1.KNDENNIN  Episode. 

dently  not  been  arranged — that  is  to  say,  the  majority 
of  them — for  the  past  ten  years. 

Luckily  for  us  who  wanted  to  be  with  the  hounds, 
the  scent  was  bad,  or  it  would  have  been  impossible. 
Still,  we  were  oblig-ed  to  keep  jumping-  and  galloping 
on.  I  call  it  galloping  by  courtesy  ;  perhaps  it  should 
be  called  a  mild  cantering,  for  our  fagged-out  beasts 
could  not  do  more.  About  six  of  us  were  left — two 
men  belonging  to  the  country,  the  master,  Cortlandt, 
Miss  Torrance  and  your  obedient  servant.  The  only 
point  the  fox  could  now  be  making,  unless  he  knew  of 
some  friendly  rabbit  hole  or  henroost  in  which  he 
expected  to  obtain  shelter,  was  the  range  of  wooded 
hills,  behind  which  the  rich  glow  of  sunny  grandeur 
was  declining  already.  But  they  must  be  miles  and 
miles  away,  and  none  of  us  could  ever  hope  to  reach 
them,  even  if  the  hounds  are  able. 

I  was  the  next  to  disappear.  Cantering  down  a 
furrow,  at  a  blind  and  wide  ditch,  with  a  high  fence 
on  the  landing  side,  over  which  I  had  hoped  to  have 
scrambled,  my  horse,  either  from  carelessness  or  inabili- 
ty to  rise,  put  his  feet  between  the  top  and  second  rail. 
He  pitched  me  against  the  opposite  bank  with  a  force 
sufficient  to  break  my  sacred  neck,  turned  half  over, 
crashed  down  the  fence,  and  both  of  us  lay  all  in  a  heap 
at  the  bottom  of  what  nearly  became  a  grave.  My  neck 
was  not  broken,  my  hat  was  demoralized,  and  my 
face,  especially  my  nose — which,  like  that  of  all 
intelligent  men,  was  somewhat  pronounced — was 
considerably  scratched  ;  but  there  the  danger  ended 
so   far  .as  I  was  concerned.     The  next  thing  I  did 


The    TORRANCE-ClyENDENNIN    EPISODE.  15 

was  to  ascertain  the  damage  to  my  animal.  He 
lay  there  like  a  log",  eyeballs  prominent  and  flanks 
heaving"  most  suspiciously. 

I  examined  him  carefully,  and  at  length  came  to 
the  conclusion  that  his  ailments  might  be  summed  up 
in  one  word  "blown."  Here  was  a  fix.  If  ever  a 
horse  looked  as  if  he  needed  the  aid  of  a  cable  and 
spades  to  deliver  him  from  prison,  he  did.  I  mounted 
the  bank  to  get  a  view  of  the  surrounding  country,  but 
not  a  homestead  or  cottage  was  visible.  No,  not  even 
a  little  smoke  to  give  me  encouragement  to  search  for 
assistance.  Away  in  the  twilight  I  could  see  the  field 
fading,  far,  far  away,  and  faintly  hear  the  cry  of  the 
hounds  still  running.  The  situation  required  consid- 
eration, and  with  a  view  of  solving  a  way  out  of  the 
difficulty,  I  lighted  a  cigar  and  pulled  myself  to- 
gether, blocking  my  hat  out,  and  scraping  the  clay 
off  my  arm  and  shoulder  with  a  knife. 

I  had  finished  my  little  diversion,  but  had  as  yet 
not  got  nearer  to  the  attainment  of  my  object.  Help 
there  was  evidently  none  at  hand,  so  what  there  was 
to  be  done  I  must  try  to  do  for  myself.  To  work  I 
went.  Getting  down  into  the  ditch  I  pulled  my 
horse's  forelegs  from  under  him  and  placed  them  so 
he  could  use  them  freely.  I  next  took  off  his  bridle, 
loosened  his  girths  and  applied  all  the  strength  of 
which  I  was  possessed  ;  pulling  him  up  by  his  tail. 
Excepting  to  burst  a  few  buttons  off  my  clothes — for 
I  am  growing  very  stout — I  did  not  budge  him,  and 
he  would  not  struggle  for  himself.  Kindness  and 
assistance  were  of  no  avail,  and  I  was  getting  ver}^ 


16  The  Torrance-Clendennin  Episode. 

mucii  annoyed  with  the  beast,   so  I  raised  my  crop 
stick  and  struck  him  with  all  my  force. 

At  the  first  half  dozen  applications  he  grunted, 
and  striking*  out  his  fore  feet,  found  a  bit  of  firm  foot- 
hold and  stood  on  all  fours  right  enough,  though  as 
yet  in  the  bottom  of  the  ditch.  To  get  him  out  was 
not  so  difficult,  and,  as  luck  would  have  it,  we  came 
out  on  the  right  side  of  the  fence  and  blundered 
through  into  the  next  field.  My  next  search  was  for 
a  road,  and  this  I  guessed  lay  three  fields  away, 
where  I  could  discern  a  row  of  trees.  Fortune  attend- 
ed me  at  the  next  two  fences,  as  I  found  gates  to 
both,  through  which  the  others  had  passed,  and  I  was 
looking  about  for  which  would  gain  me  admission  to 
the  lane,  when  in  the  gloom  which  was  fast  coming 
on  I  made  out  a  figure  on  the  far  side  of  the  field 
standing  by  the  ditch.  Thinking  to  obtain  some 
information  as  to  my  whereabouts,  I  led  my  horse 
toward  it,  but  what  was  my  surprise  on  getting  nearer 
to  find  not  the  rustic  I  expected,  but  Miss  Torrance. 
As  I  came  nearer  she  recognized  me,  and  coming  to 
meet  me,  at  once  explained  how  matters  stood. 

*' Thank  goodness  you  have  come,  Mr.  Clenden- 
nin,  I  don't  know  what  I  shall  do.  My  horse  has  been 
down  in  this  ditch  for  nearly  half  an  hour,  and, 
though  I've  walked  both  ways  up  this  lane,  I  cannot 
see  any  one  or  make  any  one  hear  to  come  and  help 
me  get  him  out." 

Here  the  description  of  her  woes  came  to  a  sud- 
den stop,  and  I  almost  fancied,  dear  creature,  I  could 
hear  a  sob,  half  smothered  in  a  pretty  cambric  hand- 


The  Torrance-Ci<endennin  EJpisode.  17 

kerchief.  Here  was  indeed  a  dilemma,  more  especi- 
ally for  a  lady  to  be  in.  But  nig-ht  was  closing-  in 
fast,  and  whatever  had  to  be  done  I  knew  must  be 
done  at  once. 

*'  Cheer  up.  Miss  Torrance,"  I  said  ;  "I  have  been 
in  a  precisely  similar  predicament  three  fields  back, 
and  have  succeeded  in  g-etting-  my  horse  out.  Perhaps 
I  may  be  equally  successful  with  yours." 

Having-  g-one  throug-h  the  same  routine  of  putting- 
his  leg's  in  position,  loosening-  the  g-irths  and  so  on,  I 
next  applied  the  hunting-  crop,  and  in  this  instance 
with  mag-ical  effect ;  for,  at  the  second  stroke,  he 
made  an  effort  to  disentangle  himself,  like  a  boarding- 
school  miss  in  a  wrestle  to  remove  her  first  "  Jersey." 
At  the  third  stroke  he  came  out  of  the  ditch,  not  a 
whit  the  worse,  but  no  doubt  stiff  enough  from  the 
cramped  position  in  which  he  was  lying.  Our  next 
move  was  in  search  of  the  gate  into  the  lane,  which 
we  eventually  found  at  the  extreme  end  of  the  field, 
and  once  more  on  terra  firma,  so  to  speak,  and  our 
troubles  surmounted,  I  put  my  fair  friend  on  her 
horse  again.  My  own  horse  I  found  was  too  .lame  to 
carry  me,  so  there  was  nothing  left  but  to  lead  him 
and  do  the  pioneer  act  on  foot,  striking  off  down  the 
lane,  which  I  knew  must  eventually  land  us  at  a 
house  of  some  kind  or  another.  It  was  now  pitch 
dark.  We  had  gone  quite  a  mile  down  the  lane,  and 
even  my  spirits  were  getting  a  trifle  below  low-water 
mark,  when  my  companion,  who,  from  her  elevated 
position,  could  see  better  than  I  could,  suddenly 
stopped  me. 


18  The  Torrance-Clendennin  Episode. 

"  Mr.  Clendennin  !  Mr.  Clendennin!  There's  an- 
other lane  here,  and,  I  believe,  a  guide  post." 

This  was,  indeed,  a  find. 

Turning-  back  a  few  yards  I  discovered  Miss 
Torrance  was  quite  right,  and  there  was  a  guide  post. 
Getting  her  horse  alongside  of  it  I  gave  her  a  fuse  to 
strike  in  order  that  she  might  read  the  inscription. 
Though  the  first  attempt  was  a  failure,  the  second 
was  a  success,   and  enabled  her  to  read   the  words, 

''  Road  to "  The  third  flared  up  well,  and  brought 

to  light,  "  Bay  Trees."  What  an  interesting  piece  of 
information  !  I  appealed  to  Miss  Torrance:  "  Have 
you  ever  heard  of  Bay  Trees?" 

*'No;  I  cannot  remember  having  seen  it  on  any 
of  the  Long  Island  maps." 

And  down  to  zero  went  our  spirits  again.  "We 
must  still  keep  to  our  lane,"  I  said,  "and  try  where 
that  will  bring  us  out,"  and  suiting  the  action  to  the 
word  I  started  off  again,  leading  my  limping  favorite. 
At  the  end  of  a  quarter  of  an  hour,  which  seemed  to 
me  like  double  the  time,  my  companion  in  distress 
again  called  to  me.  This  time  there  was  a  more 
cheerful  ring  in  her  voice,  and  on  my  stopping  to  in- 
quire the  cause  I  found  that  she  had  at  length  dis- 
cerned a  light  ahead,  and  after  walking  on  a  few 
hundred  yards  I  found  she  had  not  been  mistaken. 
There  was  a  light,  and  what  was  even  better  still,  w^e 
emerged  on  to  a  main  road.  Not  that  we  could  see 
that  it  was  a  main  road,  but  we  recognized  the  well- 
kept  roadway  in  place  of  the  stony  ruts  of  the  lane, 
and  our  spirits  rose  so  at  the  thought  of  a  speedy 


The  Torrance-Ci.e;ndennin  Episode.  19 

release  from  our  difficulties  that  we  actually  began  to 
chaff  one  another  on  the  subject.  Still  we  were  not 
yet  out  of  the  woods,  and  might  have  reserved  our 
buoyancy,  at  any  rate  for  the  present. 

The  light  we  had  observed  emanated  from  a  farm 
house  standing  a  little  way  from  the  road,  and  I 
doubt  very  much  whether  a  light  at  sea  could  be  much' 
more  welcome  to  a  mariner  than  was  the  glow  of  the 
fire  through  the  window  to  us.  Groping  through  the 
dark  carefully,  I  found  the  gate  to  the  house  yard, 
and  passing  through,  left  my  horse  to  stand  there, 
while  I  went  up  to  the  house.  In  reply  to  my  knock 
at  the  door,  I  was  saluted  by  a  bobtailed  bull  terrier, 
which  came  growling  from  the  back  of  the  house,  and 
sniffed  the  neighborhood  of  my  legs  in  a  most  uncom- 
fortable manner.  I  heard  voices  within,  and  a  man's 
voice,  evidently  that  of  the  farmer,  said  :  "  Who  can 
be  coming,  bothering  us  at  this  hour  of  the  night?" 
After  opening  the  door  about  six  inches  he  inquired  in 
a  very  unamiable  voice  :  "  What  do  you  want  here? 
Who  the  deuce  are  you  ?"  The  facts  of  the  matter 
were  soon  explained,  and,  although  he  at  first  was 
incredulously  inclined,  the  sight  of  my  pink  coat 
guaranteed  the  truth  of  my  story;  and  if  his  voice  did 
sound  a  bit  crabbed  just  now,  it  assuredly  belied  him, 
for  he  turned  out  to  be  one  of  the  real  old-fashioned 
sort,  with  whom  hospitality  was  second  nature. 
There  was  nothing  he  could  not  do  for  us.  The  hired 
man  was  sent  out  to  put  our  horses  in  the  stable,  to 
give  them  warm  gruel,  and  Miss  Torrance,  whom  he 
and  his  wife  insisted  in  calling   "the    fair  Diana," 


20  Thb  Torrance-Ci<endennin  Episode. 

was  installed  by  the  fireside,  with  a  cup  of  hot  tea. 

Having-  seen  to  the  comfort  of  the  horses,  I  next 
proceeded  to  explain  to  my  host  how  it  was  we  came 
to  be  his  g-uests,  and  to  make  inquiries  as  to  how  we 
were  to  reach  Garden  City  that  nig-ht.  He  took  the 
greatest  interest  in  hearing-  about  the  run,  having-, 
been,  on  the  other  side,  a  hunting-  man  himself  in  the 
brig-ht  days  of  old.  I  proceeded  to  explain  to  him  the 
way  we  came,  but  my  description  must  have  appeared 
very  vag-ue  to  him,  as  I  did  not  know  an  inch  of  the 
way  we  had  come.  Still,  he  made  out  the  line  from 
it,  with  complimentary  expressions  of  approval  and 
wonder. 

*'Kh,  my,  what  a  run!  Never  heard  tell  of  sech 
in  my  time.  Must  ha'  been  a  fifteen-mile  point  if  it 
had  been  an  inch  !" 

When  we  came  to  the  other  business,  though,  he 
had  not  much  to  say. 

''  Want  to  g-o  home  to-night,  do  you  say,  sir  ?" 

"Yes,  if  we  can  possibly  get  there." 

**  Perhaps  you  don't  know  how  far  you  be  from 
home,  do  you  sir?" 

Here  Miss  Torrance  interrupted  our  conversation, 
who,  having  caught  the  last  few  sentences,  began  to 
think  what  was  next  to  be  done. 

*'I  must  go  to  Garden  City  to-night  at  whatever 
cost,  at  any  rate;  Mr.  Clendennin,  I  really  must !  My 
father  and  mother  won't  know  what  has  become  of 
me,  and  I  shall  never  hear  the  end  of  it.  Do,  please, 
let  me  go.'' 

"  I  will  do  all  that  I  possibly  can,  Miss  Torrance, 


The  Torrance-Ci^endennin  Episode.  21 

of  that  you  may  be  sure  ;  and  if  it  is  possible  to  get 
you  there,  we  will  go  at  ouce.  How  far  do  you  say  it 
is?"     I  asked. 

*'Well,  it's  a  goodish  step,  and  I  do-n't  know 
rightly.  But  how  far  be  you  from  Deer  Park,  and 
then  you'll  get  it,  'cause  that's  your  road — along  this 
high  road  here  as  straight  as  you  can  go." 

I  considered  for  a  moment  what  was  the  distance 
to  Deer  Park.  "Deer  Park  must  be  about  twenty 
miles  from  Garden  City  on  about  a  straight  line." 

"Well  then,  sir,  you're  at  it.  Eighteen  or 
twenty  and  ten  make  about  thirty  miles  by  this 
calculation." 

This  was  a  poser.  I  thought  of  every  available 
method  I  could.  The  station  ?  That  was  vSix  miles 
away,  and  the  last  train  gone.  The  farmer's  trap  ? 
He  had  a  vehicle,  but  the  mare  he  always  drove  was 
heavy  in  foal,  and  to  take  her  to  Garden  City  would 
be  to  her  own  burial,  and  that  was  out  of  the  ques- 
tion. Our  horses  were  so  used  up  that  they  co'uld  not 
have  carried  us  even  the  ten  miles  for  the  life  of 
them.  There  were  no  neighbors  in  the  country  who 
had  even  a  mule.  Confound  their  poverty,  I  say  ;  and 
so  do  they,  no  doubt.  Sorry  as  I  was  for  Miss  Tor- 
rance and  her  distress  at  the  awkward  predicament  in 
which  we  were  placed,  we  must  make  up  our  minds 
to  accept  the  old  man's  hearty  invitation  and  spend 
the  night  where  we  were.  I  explained  how  useless 
and  impossible  it  was  to  try  and  proceed  further,  and 
by  degrees  persuaded  Miss  Torrance  into  the  same 
opinion. 


22  The  T0RRANCE-C1.BNDENNIN  Episode. 

The  g-ood  hostess  took  Miss  Torrance's  hands  in 
hers  and  assured  her  how  very  welcome  she  was,  and 
g-ave  her  renewed  assurance  of  what  a  pleasure  it  was 
to  have  so  charming  a  lady  under  her  roof,  if  only  for 
a  night.  A  warm,  bright  fire  had  been  kindled  in  the 
spare  room,  and  extra  heavy  turkey  red  curtains  put 
up  at  the  windows  to  make  the  apartment  look  cosy, 
when  Miss  Torrance,  thoroughly  tired  and  worn  out 
by  the  events  of  the  day,  thought  she  would  take 
advantage  of  it.  The  old  host  produced  a  bottle  of 
good  whisky  and  a  long  pipe,  but  I  preferred  one  of 
my  own  cigars,  and  at  his  request  I  gave  him  an 
account  of  our  run.  Just  then  Miss  Torrance  beck- 
oned me  to  come  to  her,  and  asked  me  how  I  was  to 
fare.  I  told  her  I  was  to  sleep  on  either  an  impro- 
vised bed  or  in  the  large  arm-chair,  at  which  she 
smiled  very  fascinatingly  and  said  she  was  sorry  that 
the  conventionalities  of  society  were  such  that  she 
could  not  spare  me  the  lounge  in  her  own  room,  and 
with  a  merry  laugh  hastened  off  to  repose.  After  an 
hour  or  so  my  companion,  who  was  not  used  to  being 
out  of  bed  after  9  o'clock,  left  me  to  myself;  so  I 
pulled  off  my  boots,  and,  settling  myself  into  an  arm- 
chair, it  was  not  long  before  I  was  asleep  and  dream- 
ing of  Miss  Torrance,  horses  the  wrong  side  up  in 
blind  ditches,  and  hounds  running,  all  jumbled  up 
together. 

It  did  not  seem  to  me  more  than  an  hour  or  so 
before  I  was  awakened  by  the  return  of  my  host,  and 
I  was  rather  astonished  to  find  that  the  servant  had 
already  lighted  the  fire  without  disturbing  me,  as  it 


The  Torrance-Ci^endennin  Episode.  23 

was  seven  o'clock.  I  had  some  considerable  difficulty 
in  g-etting-  into  my  boots  ag-ain,  but,  having-  at  leng-th 
achieved  it,  strolled  out  into  the  farmyard,  and  was 
pleased  to  find  both  our  horses  up,  and  g-rinding-  away 
at  their  feed  as  if  nothing-  out  of  the  common  had 
happened.  I  expected  at  any  rate  to  see  my  horse 
in  a  rather  damag-ed  condition.  He  acted  as  if  no- 
thing- had  happened,  much  to  my  relief,  for  I 
confess  I  had  much  anxiety  about  him,  and  I  returned 
to  the  breakfast  table  with  a  keen  appetite.  I  had 
made  my  toilet  with  much  trouble,  and  it  was  no 
easy  thing-  to  look  presentable  with  muddy  boots 
and  creased  hunting-  coat.  Oh  !  how  I  did  miss 
my  valet. 

Suddenly  Miss  Torrance  appeared  upon  the 
scene,  her  habit  brushed,  her  hair  done  up,  and 
really  quite  fresh  enoug-h  to  start  for  the  meet  again. 
How  well  and  strang-ely  a  woman  can,  if  she  will, 
adorn  herself  without  appliances  !  She  laug-hingly 
came  forward  to  say  "g-ood  morning-,"  and  the  doing-s 
of  the  day  before  flashed  across  our  minds.  So  the 
breakfast  passed  over  merrily,  and  I  am  sure  it 
was  with  a  feeling-  akin  to  reg-ret  that  our  old  host 
and  the  hostess  said  g-ood-by  to  us  as  we  rode  away 
from  the  g-ate  of  "Holly  Wood  Farm."  As  we  wended 
our  way  on  our  journey,  the  little  stiifness  of  our 
horses  wore  off  altog-ether,  and  we  trotted  along-  to 
the  city  beg-uiling-  the  way  with  a  flood  of  small 
talk  and  a  repetition  of  yesterday's  escapade.  At 
Deer  Park  we  gave  our  horses  warm  feed  and  there 
heard  from  the  'ostler,  who  had  met  Morgan  riding 


24  The  Torrance-Ci^endennin  Episode. 

through  in  search  of  the  lost  hounds,  that  they  had 
run  their  fox  to  the  hills  at  Ronkonkoma,  a  twenty- 
mile  point  from  where  they  found  him. 

So  ended  this  astonishing-  run,  which  only  needed 
a  death  to  have  made  it  the  best  any  hounds  had 
ever  to  my  knowledg-e  had.  It  was  only  9:45  a.  m., 
but  we  were  anxious  to  get  home  early.  We  wasted 
little  time,  but  pushed  steadily  on,  and  by  one  o'clock 
came  in  sight  of  the  gables  of  the  hotel.  Miss  Tor- 
rance had  been  full  of  animation  throughout  our 
ride,  and  the  long  trot  had  been  most  enjoyable.  As 
we  neared  home,  the  thought  of  having  to  give 
parental  explanations  as  to  the  awkward  and  com- 
promising position  she  had  been  placed  in,  made  her 
very  uncomfortable  and  nervous.  However,  it  had 
to  be  gone  through,  and  I  promised  to  come  in  and 
be  presented,  and  to  give  my  version  in  support  of 
hers,  to  allay  the  wrath  of  her  father,  of  which  she 
seemed  to  be  terribly  afraid. 

As  we  turned  into  the  drive  and  passed  the 
stable,  a  couple  of  helpers  ran  out  to  take  our  horses 
from  us,  and  it  was  evident  from  their  faces  and 
the  bustle  that  something  unusual  had  occurred.  We 
rode  up  to  the  door,  and  at  the  sound  of  the  horses' 
footsteps,  Aleck,  father  and  mother  hastened  to 
open  it.  I  gave  Miss  Torrance  a  lift  off  her  horse, 
and  was  then  presented  to  her  parents.  The  old 
gentleman  looked  anything  but  pleased  with  my 
acquaintance,  and  had  barely  saluted  me  when  he 
turned  round  to  his  daughter  in  the  hall,  and  with 
a  stern  Roman  air,   opened  fire:  ^ 


Tun  Torraxce-Clendennin  Episode.  25 

"Well,  Miss  Helen,  have  you  had  your  last 
day's  hunting  ?  I  think  your  conduct  and  this  man's 
\vill  require  explanation.  Where  have  you  been, 
and  why  were  you  not  home  last  nig-ht  ?" 

Miss  Helen  proceeded  to  give  her  narrative  and 
mishaps  in  extenso — how  she  had  fallen;  how  I  had 
so  kindly  rescued  her,  and  how  by  sheer  force  of 
circumstances  Holly  Wood  had  been  our  refuge.  The 
old  gentleman  stamped,  fretted  and  fumed,  and 
after  finishing  with  her,  in  a  magisterial  manner 
began: 

"I  think,  sir,  the  very  least  you  could  have  done 
would  have  been  by  hook  or  crook  to  have  had 
information  conveyed  of  our  daughter's  whereabouts. 
It  was  your  duty  to  have  allayed  our  anxiety  and 
saved  compromising  a  lady.  I  can  thank  you,  sir, 
for  placing  my  daughter  in  such  a  compromising 
position." 

Miss  Torrance  at  this  juncture  came  forward, 
and,  laying  her  arm  on  that  of  her  father,  was 
about  to  protest,  but  he  put  her  away,  and  his  anger 
was  at  boiling  point,  when  I  put  a  stop  to  any  further 
angry  remarks  by  curtly  saying: 

"I  am  sorry  that  what  I  have  done,  as  I  supposed 
for  the  best,  lacks  your  approval;  but  having  ex- 
plained the  circumstances,  and  said  all  I  have  to  say, 
I  must  bid  you  adieu,"  Whereupon  I  bowed  to  Miss 
Torrance,  and  to  him,  then  to  Mrs.  Torrance,  and 
taking  my  horse  from  the  groom  left  the  old  fellow 
to  cool  off  and  indulge  in  a  tirade  all  to  himself. 
When  I  arrived  at  my  rooms  Cortlandt  and  Morgan 


26  The  Torrance-Clendennix  Episode. 

were  busy  at  luncli,  and  althoug-h  I  was  considerably 
worked  up  and  my  temper  was  still  very  sore,  the 
jeers  and  laug'bter  which  saluted  m}^  appearance  as 
I  stood  in  the  doorway  dispelled  my  ire.  I  had  to 
g-ive  Morgan  a  full,  faithful  and  true  account  after 
Cortlandt  had  left  us  at  "Zborowski's  Rough,"  and 
as  my  tale  progressed,  of  course  the  whole  of  the 
facts  in  connection  with  the  joint  adventure  of  Miss 
Torrance  and  myself  came  to  light.  I  could  see  the 
two  winking  at  one  another  and  occasionally  making 
signs,  but  I  pretended  not  to  notice.  At  last,  when 
my  account  was  finished,  neither  spoke,  but  Morgan 
arose  and  rang  the  bell  and  ordered  his  servant  to 
bring  up  a  magnum  from  the  cellar. 

"A  magnum,"  I  said,  "w^ho  do  you  think  is  going 
to  drink  a  magnum  at  this  hour  of  the  day."  "I'm 
going  to  drink  your  health,  old  chappie,  and  so,  too, 
I  know  will  Cortlandt.  And  we  are  not  going  to  wish 
you  long  life  and  a  happy  one,  under  anything  less 
my  dear  old  boy,  then  a  magnum.  Are  we  Cort- 
landt ?"  It  was  in  vain  I  declared  they  were 
mistaken,  and  that  there  was  nothing  of  the  sort  on 
foot — that  our  conversation  had  entirely  been  confined 
to  common  places  and  so  on.  They  declined  to  believe 
it,  and  in  spite  of  my  protests  and  entreaty  to  "let  up," 
they  carried  me  along,  and  I  had  to  join  in  the 
health,  luck  and  happiness  of  Miss  Torrance,  the 
other  two   coupling    my  name   with  hers. 

.  The  following  day  we  were  hunting  again,  and 
I  must  confess  to  disappointment  at  not  seeing  my 
proteg^     out.     I  wondered  whether  her  father  really 


The  Torranc  E-C1.ENDENNIN  Episode.  27 

meant  to  keep  his  word  and  not  let  her  out  again  to 
hunt,  or  whether  she  was  ill,  overcome  by  the  fatigue 
or  excitement  of  the  previous  day.  In  fact  I  thought 
entirely  too  much  about  her,  and  consequently  did  not 
enjoy  the  sport  half  as  much  as  I  could  have  done. 
We  had  a  fair  day,  a  fine  run,  and  a  speedy  kill,  and 
we  returned  home  before  our  usual  time.  On  entering 
the  hall  I  found  a  note  awaiting  me,  headed : 

*'My  Dear  Sir:  I  fear  in  the  heat  of  the  moment 
and  excitement  incidental  to  the  return  of  my  daughter 
I  may  have  made  use  of  some  expressions  that  I  would 
wish  to  recall.  Upon  reflection,  permit  me  to  say  I 
now  have  no  doubt  you  did  all  in  any  man's  power 
to  contribute  to  the  comfort  of  Miss  Torrance  under 
the  very  trying  circumstances.  I  thank  you  for  it. 
It  will  afford  me  pleasure  to  receive  you  at  dinner  to- 
night, en  famille.  Our  hour  is  7:30,  which  I  hope 
will  afford  me  an  opportunity  to  personally  express 
my  apology.  Yours  very  cordially, 

*  'Torrance-Torrance.  " 
''To  Fitzroy  Clendennin,  Esq." 

Now,  to  tell  the  truth,  I  had  really  been  awfully 
riled  with  the  old  fellow  and  his  treatment  of  me; 
but  I  am  not  inclined  to  make  enemies,  being  ever 
ready  to  let  bygones  be  bygones.  Besides,  I  was 
awfully  anxious,  don't  you  know,  to  see  Miss  Torrance 
and  hear  in  what  way  she  appeased  the  irate 
parents.  So  I  hastily  wrote  a  reply  in  my  usually 
illegible  hand,  accepted  the  invitation,  and  dispatched 
Martin,  my  servant,  with  the  note.  I  needn't  elabo- 
rate upon  the    dinner.     Most  dinners  are  alike,  they 


28  The:  Torrance-CIvEndennin  Episode. 

are  either  very  g-ood  or  the  opposite.  And  no  one 
will  be  interested  to  know  how  rude  old  Torrance  was 
to  take  the  extra  drop  of  sherry  that  made  him  g-o  to 
sleep.  I  had  to  find  my  way  into  the  drawing-  room 
alone.  But  there  was  Mrs.  Torrance.  She  apolo- 
gized for  Mr.  Torrance's  rudeness,  and  the  charm  of 
her  manner  stamped  her  perfect  g-ood  breeding*. 
Then  Mr.  Torrance  presented  an  abject  apolog-y, 
trusting-  I  would  forg-ive  and  overlook,  and  sincerely 
hoped  I  would  become  a  more  frequent  visitor  to  the 
estate. 

In  the  drawing-  room  Mrs.  Torrance  was  also  in 
the  arms  of  Morpheus,  so  it  happened  that  the  coast 
was  clear  for  one  of  those  lovely  moments  when  Miss 
Torrance  and  I  could  resume  our  tete-a-tete,  and  hear 
from  her  own  dear  lips  how  she  had  defended  me  to 
her  father,  and  how,  in  spite  of  all  the  trials  and 
troubles,  she  would  almost  like  the  day  to  come  over 
ag-ain.  I  had  always  thoug-ht — and  so,  too,  had  all 
my  friends — that  I  was  not  a  marrying-  man.  I 
thoug-ht  differently  now,  and  my  friends  were  mis- 
taken, for  here  was  a  wom^an  among-  women.  She 
could  ride  to  hounds  well,  she  could  bring-  down  her 
brace  of  partridge,  she  was  sympathetic,  had  a  superb 
fig-ure,  her  hair  was  brown,  with  a  Titian  coloring- 
in  parts,  her  eyes  were  violet-hued.  Who  could  wish 
for  more  ?  My  ideal  was  here  revealed,  and  Helen 
Torrance  became  Mrs.  Clendennin  at  no  very  distant 
date. 


29 


Diaoa  017  Hors^bacK. 


^-.  \0T  so  many  years  ag-o  mothers  would  have 
jNf  thoug-ht  the  sport  of  hunting-  something  akin 
to  a  serious  escapade,  as  atrocious  folly,  and 
without  reason  ;  but  notes  avons  change  tout  cela.  And 
their  charming"  daughters  are  not  now  garrulously 
quieted  into  the  silence  of  a  statute  of  Harpocrates 
when  asking  if  they  may  g-o  ahunting-  when  a  hunt- 
ing morning  comes  round,  although  occasionally  an 
irritable  mamma  will  cause  the  willful  daughter  to 
be  mute  with  the  seal  of  silence  when  such  a  day  as 
is  described  as  a  southerly  wind  and  a  cloudy  sky, 
and  is  proclaimed  a  hunting-  morning,  appears. 

It  was  on  just  such  a  day  about  the  year 
1873  that  four  lackeys  stood  by  a  very  unpretentious 
house  in  a  quiet  street,  and  arrang-ed  themselves  at 
the  head  of  the  stone  steps  of  the  stairs  like  statues 
bearing-  torches. 

These  self-contained  grooms  had  driven  to  the 
modest  dwelling-  for  several  ladies,  who  had  a  taste 
for  hunting-  derived  from  European  travel,  and  had 
heard  that  Mr.  Joe  Donohue,  or  "Old  Joe,"  as  his 
intimates  called  him,  had  rare  sport  over  on  several 


30  Diana  on  Horseback. 

New  Jersey  hills  and  dales,  hunting-  the  red  fox. 
Joe  Donohoe  was  the  father  of  steeplechasing-  at  the 
North,  and  his  stables  were  filled  with  some  prime 
favorites.  Then  these  fair  aspirants  for  the  brush 
thought  they  would  like  to  have  a  ''  g-o  "  at  the  g-ame, 
which,  sporting-  historians  say,  is  a  *'  sport  fit  for 
kings."  Mr.  Donohoe  was  an  ardent  lover  of  all 
kinds  of  out  door  pleasure  and  under  all  conditions,  and 
he  hunted  with  about  nine  couples  of  hounds. 

As  Joe  weig-hed  about  twenty  stone  (280  pounds), 
he  hunted  the  pack  on  foot,  apparently  an  impossible 
feat  over  an  exasperating-  country,  but  to  please  the 
fair  sex  Joe  could  do  anything-  of  an  almost  impossible 
nature.  The  junior  Joe  Donohue  acted  as  first  whip, 
employing-  several  g-ood  weig-ht  carrying  steeple- 
chasers for  the  purpose.  Over  this  country  these  two 
Irish  lovers  of  sport  could  have  put  to  the  blush  the 
miracles  of  Con  Cregan  of  Charles  Lever's  fancy. 

Joe  welcomed  the  ladies  warmly,  beaux,  hunters 
and  grooms  ;  all  went  over  to  Hackensack,  across  the 
river,  this  day,  and  more  promised  to  go.  Those 
who  went  had  even  more  than  one  day's  sport  which  was 
enjoyed  under  great  difficulty;  but  the  gallantry  of  the 
huntsmen  and  the  devotion  of  the  fair  participants  to 
the  chase  could  not  make  an  impassable  country,  passa- 
ble. The  inns  were  few  and  far  between,  and  abomi- 
nably bad,  and  the  refreshers  too  meagreto  claim  indul- 
gence even  for  the  sport's  sake  and,  although  many  a 
fine  Reynard-rouge  was  started  out  of  the  impenetrable 
thickets  and  rocks,  few  of  the  ladies  were  in  at  the 
death,  ''  and  precious  few  of  the  men  either,  for  that 


Diana  on  Horseback.  31 

matter,"  as  remarked  by  a  fair  sportswoman.  Without 
the  brush,  at  the  beaux'  side  of  the  saddle,  half 
the  enjoyment  was  lost,  for  without  that  precious 
brush  (tail),  or  the  pads  (feet),  tokens  of  courag-eous 
riding-,  what  incentive  was  left  ?  They  are  to  hunt- 
ing- what  the  Media  is  to  the  poet.  Consequently, 
this  condition  of  affairs  naturally  could  not  last,  and 
the  sport  must  be  found  elsewhere,  under  fairer  con- 
ditions. 

These  were  the  tenor  of  the  remarks,  and  in  the 
fall  of  about  the  year  1874,  or  at  one  of  the  prelimi- 
nary meets,  which  took  the  nature  of  a  preamble  to 
the  permanent  inaug-uration  of  the  Meadow  Brook 
hunt,  discussion  was  invited,  and  the  Misses  Oelrichs 
thoug-ht  in  concurrence,  that  if  the  middle  weight 
Donohoe,  Jr.,  could  not  be  with  the  hounds  at  the 
death,  Hackensack  must  be  abandoned  entirely  to  this 
more  adaptable  country. 

Mr.  Jay  frequently  drove  down  his  four-in-hand 
to  Garden  City,  with  Mrs.  Jay,  at  the  commencement 
of  the  hunting  season,  always  bring-ing  along  a  merry 
company  who  had  sent  their  hunters  on  ahead.  There 
were  frequently  several  gay  tandems  present  and  brakes 
filled  with  ladies  also.  It  was  upon  these  occasions, 
when  even  the  resources  of  Garden  City  were  taxed  that 
the  impracticability  of  Hackensack  was  prominently 
brought  out,  and  it  was  concluded  that  if  ladies  were 
to  enliven  the  scene,  Hempstead  would  have  to  be  the 
rendezvous.  The  agents  of  the  late  Alexander  T. 
Stewart,  and  later  on  the  executors,  offered  accom- 
modations suitably  modernized  to  meet  the  demands 


32  Diana  on  Horseback. 

of  a  critical  riding-  assembly  not  surpassed  for  knowing- 
what  they  require,  and  straig-ht  riding-.  At  one  of  these 
very  first  meets  at  Garden  City,  one  handsome  young- 
man  was  dressed  in  a  rich  and  eleg-ant  costume  of  chest- 
nut brown  cloth,  trimmed  with  g-reen,  his  crown  topped 
with  a  broad  felt  hat,  with  handsome  g-reen  plume.  He 
had  a  face  classical  enough  to  be  worthy  of  an  ancient 
Greek  statue,  but  the  sig-lit  of  this  fine  cavalier  did  not 
seem  to  make  an  ag-reeable  inpression,  and  he  was  re- 
quested to  retire  to  la  belle  France  and  doff  his  uniform. 
Many  were  the  speculations  as  to  who  this  mysterious 
stranger  was:  and  he  is  frequently  referred  to  among- 
our  upper  ten  in  their  riding-  recollections  to  this  day. 

At  this  early  meet,  after  the  hunt  lunch  had  been 
done  ample  justice  to,  and  Mr.  Frank  Griswold  had 
sounded  the  hunting-  horn,  mounted  on  an  animal  of 
well  bred  form,  I  saw  the  wife  of  Mr.  A.  Belmont  Purdy, 
who  is  a  very  ardent  lover  of  a  good  horse.  Mrs.  Purdy 
is  tall  and  slim,  but  with  a  very  superior  fig-ure,  and 
much  witching-  g-race.  She  rides  at  about  120  pounds. 
Her  brig-ht  brown  eyes,  lovely  teeth  and  olive  com- 
plexion are  faultless.  The  pleasureable  anticipation 
of  a  g-ood  day's  sport  kindle  her  eyes,  and  her  face  is 
sunlit  as  the  South.  She  was  not  riding-  her  favorite 
cobby-built  horse,  which  she  idolized,  but  her  second 
choice,  who  had  g-reat  staying-  power,  and  was  a  15.3- 
hands  hunter. 

A  very  spirited  blood  bay  hunter  g-alloped  by,  and 
an  inquiring- strang-er  was  told  that  it  was  Mrs.  Douglas, 
who,  with  her  bright,  flashing-  eyes,  handsome  head, 
neat  outline  of  fig-ure   and  almost  perfectly  modeled 


Diana  on  Horseback.  33 

features,  is  witching  the  world  of  horsemanship.  Still 
another,  on  a  golden  sorrel,  is  Miss  Morgan,  a  very 
bold  rider  to  hounds,  who  never  flinches  from  any 
country  the  hounds  may  be  on  the  scent  of.  You  can 
find  her  in  the  thickest  of  the  fight;  with  an  eye  like  a 
hawk,  she  is  selecting  the  best  course  to  pursue.  But 
she  will  resent  advice.  Her  favorite  jumps  are  level 
brooks,  and,  give  her  a  good  "take  off  and  landing," 
she  will  tell  you  she  cares  not  how  wide  nor  how  deep. 
Miss  Morgan  gave  a  rival  one  day  a  very  tough  and 
hard  fight  for  the  brush,  which  was  awarded  Miss 
Morgan,  and  at  a  dinner  party  in  honor  of  the  extem- 
pore steeplechase  which  she  won  she  expatiated  in  the 
following  terms,  it  is  said:  "Ladies  and  the  sterner  sex: 
Although  about  the  last  thing  I  expected  to  be  called 
upon  to  provide,  I  will  ask  you  to  invite  your  sister  in- 
timates to  participate  in  a  sport  the  counterpart  of 
pleasure,  which,  as  a  health  tonic,  and  to  give  exciting 
tone  to  the  system,  has  no  equal.  I  consider  that  when 
I  am  an  accomplished  horsewoman  I  will  have  attained 
the  Mecca  of  my  pilgrimage.  I  am  only  now  a  fair  eques- 
trienne of  limited  ability,  but  with  the  intuition  born 
of  my  sex,  know  'What  a  woman  wills,  she  wills,  and 
there  is  an  end  on't.'  I  will  tell  you  any  first-class 
saddler  and  habit  maker  may  equip  us  for  the  fray, 
but  to  our  friends  who  are  not  present,  but  who  have 
signified  an  intention  to  be  so,  we  must  tell  them  that 
a  good  faithful  hunter  is  difficult  to  procure  ;  though 
we  will  help  them  to  be  well  mounted  both  by  advice  and 
access  to  our  stables.  We  require  an  animal  with  fire, 
still    obedient    to    orders,    gracefully     arched    neck, 


34  Diana  on  Horssback. 

short  back,  a  well  ribbed  up  animal,  plenty  of  bone, 
muscle  and  staying-  power  ;  all,  in  fact,  [cheers  from 
the  ladies]  constituting  perfection,  hard  to  find  as  in 
man.  [Groans  from  men.]  Perfection  in  man,  indeed  ! 
I  hope  we  may  find  it.  Still,  both  beasts  may  be  found 
to  our  liking-."  [Laughter  from  all,  and  cheers  to 
Miss  Morgan  for  her  maiden  forum  effort.]  The 
modest  and  retiring  Miss  Morgan  was  considered  very 
successful  at  this,  her  first  response. 

The  courtly  wife  of  our  Minister  to  The  Hague, 
Mr.  Isaac  Bell,  would  occasionally  encourage  large 
fields  by  bringing  over  parties  of  friends,  as  would 
several  members  of  the  Jay  family  and  the  Iselins. 
Whatever  went  on  in  the  line  of  horse  amusement 
without  a  branch  of  the  Iselin  family  taking  an  en- 
couraging part  ?  Mrs.  Jay,  who  was  a  Miss  Oelrich, 
for  a  long  time  was  a  most  devoted  lover  of  the  sport 
of  hunting,  her  penchant  being  for  difficult  riding, 
and  her  faultless  menage  was  pronounced. 

Mrs.  Douglass  also  is  a  very  excellent  performer, 
to  whom  no  enjoyment  is  keener,  and  nothing  pleases 
her  so  as  to  be  mounted  on  a  spirited  thoroughbred  of 
Glencoe  strain,  who  is  enacting  the  role  of  blackguard, 
for  with  her  positive  manner,  although  quiet  demeanor, 
she  will  soon  make  him  a  well-bred,  respectable  boy, 
afterwards  fit  for  a  mild  Vassar  girl  to  make  her  debut 
with.  Mrs  Douglas  will  often  exclaim  to  her  groom; 
"If  I  fail,  you  must  let  me  know  where,  so  I  am  sure 
he  will  not  repeat  the  error." 

No  keener  lover  of  meadow  and  vale  in  Kildare 
can  be  found  than  Miss  Work,  who  thinks   that  more 


Diana  on  Horseback.  35 

matrimonially  eligible  young-  ladies  should  be  seen  in 
the  hunting-  field,  as  horsemanship  contains  the  very 
pith  and  marrow  of  all  the  theories  of  love  and  love- 
making-  of  the  virile  as  well  as  of  the  fair  sex.  Miss 
Work  can  certainly  perform,  if  she  desires,  some  be- 
witchingly  coquetish  and  charmingly  bewitching 
horsemanship.  She  is  very  fond  of  cool  shaded  riding 
retreats  along  country  roads.  Her  brother  George  is 
a  very  cool-headed  rider,  who  has  apparently  been  of 
much  service  in  perfecting  her  system  of  horsemanship. 
Miss  Work  is  personally  handsome,  is  devoted  to 
her  horses,  and  she  posesses  several  very  fine  ones. 
A  certain  marquis  of  very  ancient  family  was  com- 
pletely carried  away  with  her  exhibitions  of  cool 
courage.  Demanding  an  introduction  he  was  informed 
it  was  only  possible  upon  the  condition  that  he  should 
at  least  follow  her  or  be  in  at  the  death  of  Reynard. 
Unfortunately,  the  marquis,  a^acustomed  as  most  of 
the  Parisians  to  be  in  at  the  death  in  imagination 
only,  and  experienced  alone  in  Boulevard  hippodrome 
effect,  had  neither  the  courage  nor  the  mount  to  win 
his  spurs,  and  he  sadly  sailed  back  to  la  belle  France 
with  his  heart  broken. 

Mrs.  S.  S.  Sands,  Jr.,  rides  beautifully  and  is  well 
up  in  all  those  little  requirements  of  the  riding  art 
which  make  perfection.  She  has  the  best  of  taste  and 
judgment  in  her  habits  and  her  mounts.  She  prefers 
thoroughbreds.  Her  husband  has  one  of  the  best  of 
hands  and  is  always  seen  in  the  foremost  flight  over 
any  hunting  country.  He  evidently  has  imparted  to 
his  wife  some  portion  of  his  fearlessness,  for  she  rides 


36  Diana  on  Horseback. 

with  an  Amazon's  courage.  Mrs.  Sands  believes  that 
over  a  bad  country  words  are  feminine,  and  that  the 
sport  calls  for  masculine  action ;  so  she  reserves  all 
her  streng-th  upon  conversational  topics  until  the  end 
of  the  run.  Mrs.  Sands  has  a  charming-  abode  at 
Hempstead  during-  the  hunting-  season,  and  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  S.  S.  Sands,  Jr.,  entertain  delig-htfully  their  nu- 
merous friends. 

To  see  is  to  admire  the  magnetic  and  masterly 
manner  Miss  Hecksher  lifts  her  hunter  along*  when  he 
shows  sig-ns  of  fatig-ue.  She  is  "en  rapport,"  thoug-h 
the  pace  the  fastest  and  fences  stiffest — is  fondest  of 
"  in  and  out  "  jumps,  and  it  would  be  difficult  to 
see  anything  finer  on  any  steeplechase  course.  Being 
a  good  judge  of  pace,  she  is  never  far  awa}^  from  the 
hounds.  In  figure  Miss  Hecksher  is  petite;  height 
neighboring  five  feet  four  inches  ;  has  charming  hazel 
eyes  and  half  rosy  complexion,  making  her  a  pretty 
equestrienne  figure.  While  passionately  fond  of  the 
thoroughbred,  the  highest  type  of  horse,  still  she  has 
her  favorites  among  the  lowly  if  they  are  faithful  sons 
and  daughters  of  their  mistresses,  and  properly 
devote  their  lives  to  the  amusement  of  the  human 
race.  Miss  Hecksher's  ideal  day  is  one  rounded  off 
with  an  afternoon  of  successful  runs  with  hounds 
when  autumn  leaves  are  falling,  and  the  v/estern  sky 
aflame  with  the  radiance  of  the  setting  sun.  It  is 
then,  she  says,  she  is  at  her  best. 

Miss  Winthrop  presents  a  very  fascinating  appear- 
ance mounted  on  her  chestnut  hunter,  standing  six- 
teen hands.      Miss  Winthrop  is  very  prett}^,  slender. 


Diana  on  Horseback.  37 

and  wears  her  hair  in  a  coil  braid.  She  has  large, 
eloquent  ejes  of  the  kind,  it  is  said,  British  officers  in 
India  raved  over,  as  alone  being-  possessed  by  the 
Nautsch  girls.  Miss  Winthrop  believes  that  a  horse 
should  be  corrected  for  a  fault  upon  the  spot,  and  when 
the  whip  is  needed  the  rod  should  not  be  spared  nor 
child  spoiled. 

Miss  Coates  has  hunted  extensively  abroad  and  at 
Newport,  and  is  very  successful  in  taking  the  standing 
jump.  She  has  been  accustomed  to  long  rides  from 
childhood.  She  says  that  in  England  and  Ireland 
hard  riding  appears  to  encourage  great  thirst  among 
the  hunting  men,  and  that  while  she  likes  to  see  the 
men  making  merry  over  their  wine  and  good  cheer 
after  great  fatigue  and  danger,  she  does  not  believe  in 
their  developing  the  remarkable  and  astounding 
powers  of  ingurgitation  of  sponges.  Miss  Coates 
thinks  one  of  the  great  charms  of  outdoor  riding  at 
Hempstead  is  the  sweet  perfume  of  the  heather  and 
to  breath  the  resinous  odor  of  Long  Island  pines. 


Witb  tbe  Fox  Hounds. 


38 


IF  there  is  one  thing*  more  than  another  that  strikes 
Americans    travelling-    in    the    fall  of  the  year 

through  Kng-land  for  the  first  time,  as  being-  extra- 
ordinary, it  is  to  observe  the  passion  for  fox  hunting- 
that  all  Englishmen  and  women  of  position  possess. 
To  the  untravelled  student,  apart  from  its  aspect  of 
cruelty,  it  appears  to  be  the  fag*  end  of  sport,  and 
hence  the  suggestion  naturally  arises  that  the  Eng-lish 
must  have  exhausted  every  channel  of  outdoor  pleasure, 
fox  hunting-  being-  the  residue  of  the  pool. 

But  mature  observation  compels  a  corrected  im- 
pression that  there  is  much  to  be  said  in  its  favor,  es- 
pecially when  taking-  into  consideration  that  the  high 
state  of  cultivated  country  in  Kng-land  precludes  the 
possibility  of  having-  anything-  akin  to  the  majestic 
sport  of  our  g-reat  west. 

The  rural  Eng-lishman,  taug-ht  from  childhood  the 
skillful  manag-ement  of  his  pony,  finds  himself  at 
manhood's  estate  the  master  of  his  horse.  The  saddle 
is  in  England  far  more  used  than  the  vehicle.     Nor  is 


"With  the  Fox  Hounds.  39 

it  confined  to  the  leisure  classes.  The  humblest  lad 
at  work  on  his  employer's  farm  is  permitted  to  gallop 
off  upon  errands,  if  speed  be  needed.  Then,  having 
reached  a  certain  stage  of  the  riding  art,  the  youth 
sighs  to  excel  in  the  science,  and  his  ambition  to  join 
in  the  chase  follows. 

The  votaries  of  fox  hunting  term  it  the  noble 
science,  and  regard  it  by  common  consent  as  the  per- 
fection of  hunting.  The  explanation  or  apology  the 
English  give  for  such  an  apparently  undignified  sport 
is  that  the  fox  is  possessed  of  extraordinary  speed  and 
endurance,  and  being  found  in  reasonable  numbers 
affords  a  fair  chance  for  sport.  The  English,  and  the 
Irish  gentry  as  well,  do  not  consider  the  size  of  the 
animal  as  necessary  to  add  dignity  to  the  pastime. 

There  are  certain  stringent  laws  regarding  rights 
to  traverse  country,  but  they  are  not  recorded  in  any 
written  rules.  They  are  traditional  records  held  by 
the  masters  of  fox  hounds  from  time  immemorial — each 
fox  hunting  pack  of  hounds  possessing  its  sole  terri- 
tory. The  title  deeds  to  an  estate  would  not  be  more 
vigorously  defended  than  the  rights  to  hunt  certain 
counties,  handed  down  for  generations. 

The  late  William  H.  Vanderbilt  was  invited  to 
witness  a  hunt  in  one  of  the  crack  sporting  counties  in 
England,  or  as  much  of  it  as  he  could  see  from  the  top 
of  Mr.  Junius  Morgan's  coach,  and  he  told  one  of  the 
members  of  the  Morgan  family,  whose  guest  he  was, 
that  he  never  saw  a  grander  sight,  and  that  if  he  had 
his  life  to  live  over  again  he  would  learn  to  ride  after 
the  hounds.     The  part  which  Mr.  Vanderbilt  enjoyed 


40  With  the  Fox  Hounds. 

most  was  tlie  start.  The  excitement  produced  by  these 
bursts  is  a  very  extraordinary  and  inspiring-  one.  A 
battle  will  not  witness  men  more  jealous  of  g-etting- 
forward.  Nor  are  triumphs  in  the  forum  or  the  bar 
more  keenly  enjoyed. 

Neither  accident  nor  illness  will  induce  a  man  to 
remain  with  his  friend,  and  "  Sauve  qui  pent"  is  the 
motto  of  the  day. 

It  is  a  g-lorious  sig-ht  to  see  two  or  three  hundred 
of  the  flower  of  Kng-land's  horses  charg-e  ox  fences, 
brooks  or  g-ates  in  the  frenzy  of  their  first  charg-e. 
The  Duke  of  Beaufort  piloted  several  American  ladies 
at  a  meet  of  his  hounds  some  few  years  since,  Mrs. 
Hicks-Lord  of  Washington  Square  being-  of  the  number. 
A  Connecticut  photog-rapher  took  an  excellent  portrait 
of  her  while  her  hunter  was  just  rising-  at  a  brook, 
some  copies  of  which  have  been  shown  in  New  York. 

There  are  about  150  packs  kept  in  Eng-land  and 
Wales,  to  say  nothing-  of  Ireland.  The  average  first 
cost  of  each  pack  is  about  $7,500,  some  costing  nearly 
three  times  and  even  four  times  that  sum.  There  is 
expended  in  England  at  least  $4,000,000  for  the  sport 
of  fox  hunting.  The  apology  Englishmen  give  for 
expending  this  vast  sum  for  one  item  of  pleasure  is 
that  it  encourages  the  breed  of  horses  and  keeps  up  a 
high  standard  of  health  and  courage  or  pluck  and 
improved  bodily  constitution  of  those  who  partake  in 
the  sport. 

Some  rarely  good  specimens  of  fox  hounds  bring 
enormous  figures.  At  the  sale  of  a  Mr.  Obaldestons 
in  1840,  one  lot  of  five  couples  was  bought  in  at  $6,800, 


With  the  Fox  Hounds.  41 

and  in  1870  Lord  Baltimore  sold  his  entire  dog-  pack  at 
an  averag-e  of  $740  per  cotiple. 

The  best  blood  of  the  present  day  is  to  be  found  in 
the  packs  of  Lord  F-itzwilliam,  Lord  Yarboroug-h, 
Duke  of  Beaufort  and  Lord  Fitzhardinge.  The  period 
of  the  sport  of  fox  hunting  commences  with  what  is 
known  as  the  cub  hunting*  season,  beginning  in  Sep- 
tember or  October  and  the  fox  hunting  season  ending 
in  March  or  April.  Cub  hunting  is  merely  for  the 
purpose  of  scattering  the  foxes  and  breaking  in  the 
hounds  and  men.  Some  sportsmen  enjoy  it  more  than 
the  pleasure  of  fox  hunting,  but  it  is  not  intended  to 
be  a  sport.  Hounds  are  hunted  with  a  master,  a  first 
and  second  whip.  These  positions  are  alwaj's  filled 
by  gentlemen,  excepting  in  some  instances  the  second 
whip  is  a  servant.  There  is  one  part  of  this  sport  I 
always  regarded  as  showing  unnecessary  brutality, 
and  is  at  the  "  kill."  It  is  customary  for  the  hunts- 
man to  dismount,  get  in  among  the  hounds,  take  hold 
of  and  hold  the  fox  aloft.  This  is  done  to  enable  the 
hounds  to  get  wind  and  encourage  the  laggard  hounds; 
then  the  fox  is  thrown  to  them  and  torn  limb  from 
limb.  It  is  this  worr^^ng  process  that  appears  the 
refinement  of  unnecessary  cruelty.  When  the  Prince 
of  Wales  was  a  young  fellow  he  was  acting-master  of 
a  famous  pack,  and  he  refused  to  perform  this  act  of 
brutality.  Since  then  it  has  been  only  the  habit 
among  about  half  of  the  masters  to  follow  this  custom. 
The  words  "  Tally  ho  !  Tally  ho  !  Tally  ho  !  "  mean 
the  fox  is  seen,  which  is  executed  by  the  first  whip.  If 
the  fox  has  run  back,   "Tally  ho,   back!    Tally  ho, 


42  "With  the  Fox  Hounds. 

back!"  If  the  hounds  are  required  to  come  out  of 
covert  without  the  use  of  whip,  the  words  ''Elup! 
Eluppe  !    Eluppe  !"  are  used. 

The  enormous  strength  required  in  fox  hunting- 
is  incredible  to  those  who  have  not  endured  the 
fatigues  of  a  long  day's  run.  It  is  the  sport  of  youth 
and  early  manhood.  Few  men  or  women  can  get  up 
the  requisite  strength  to  endure  its  toils  or  perils  after 
they  have  passed  their  grand  climacteric. 

There  are  certainly  some  brilliant  exceptions,  for 
gray  hairs  are  no  impediment  among  some  of  the  most 
prominent  men  in  England.  I  remember  seeing  a 
clergyman  of  eighty  once  who  was  the  image  of  the 
late  Samuel  J.  Tilden,  hunting  over  a  tremendously 
ugly  country,  well  up  with  the  first  flight  of  hounds, 
and  the  rain  which  was  incessant,  was  coming  down 
'*cats  and  dogs." 


43 
oqooqooqooqooqooqooqooqooqooqooqooqooqo 
oOooOooOoqOooOooOooOooOooOooOoqOooOooOo 

Tbe  Objects  of  Racing. 


ALTHOUGH  thousands  upon  almost  countless 
thousands  in  the  year  visit  the  race  course,  how 
few  are  there  among-  them  who  have  the 
faintest  conception  of  what  the  true  object  of  racing- 
is.  What  varied  interests  are  affected  by  the  rise  or 
decline  of  the  sport  !  What  difference  it  would  make 
in  the  lives  of  thousands  of  men  and  their  families. 

In  the  first  place,  the  sole  object  for  which  horse 
racing-  was  inaug-urated  and  confessedly  supported 
by  the  influential  powers  to  which  it  owes  its  ex- 
istence, was  the  encourag-ement  of  the  breed  of  horses. 

In  the  g-reat  breeding-  establishments  in  foreig-n 
countries  the  g-overnment  affords  material  support, 
and  derive  their  best  infusion  and  crosses  from  the 
turf  winners  on  both  sides  of  the  parental  house. 

There  it  is — national  defence — that  is  the  factor 
that  gives  the  encourag-ement  to,  and  draws  the  supply 
from  them.  Now  there  is  only  one  way  to  form  a 
definite  conclusion  as  to  stoutness  and  speed,  and  that 
is  by  competition.  The  best  breeders  or  judg-es  of 
g-ood  stock  could  not  arrive  at  a  precise  opinion  of 
value  without  it.  For,  lacking-  that  g-uide,  there 
would  only  be  external  form,  which  would  be  likely  to 
produce  a  handsome,  but  a  horse  of   weak  stamina 


44  The  Objects  of  Racing. 

Thus  it  will  be  seen,  that  the  very  essence  of  the  life 
of  racing-  exists  in  honest  racing-  g-enerally  and  honest 
handicapping-  particularl3\ 

Almost  every  novice  knows  that  handicapping-  is 
apportioning-  the  weig-ht  of  racers  in  accordance  with 
age  and  merit.  It  is  undoubtedly  true  in  this  con- 
nection to  say  that  many  men  will  run  their  stock  one 
or  two  seasons  without  winning-,  designedly  to  deceive 
the  handicapper,  g-et  off  the  weig-ht,  and  patiently 
await  the  supreme  moment  for  one  g-rand  coup.  It  is 
undoubtedly  true  also  that  a  shrewd  handicapper, 
knowing-  his  business,  will  not  be  deceived  by  per- 
formances, and  has  his  own  particular  pet  methods  of 
finding-  out  the  relative  merits  of  the  horses. 

The  handicapper's  is  generally  considered  a  very 
trying  position,  as  he  is  constantly  hearing  the 
remarks  of  disappointed  starters  of  horses.  There  are 
only  a  very  few  really  expert  men  in  the  United  States 
at  this  business,  and  the  well-known  J.  G.  K.  Law- 
rence is  not  at  the  foot  of  the  list  by  any  means,  but 
it  is  the  running  that  is  the  general  rule  the  handi- 
capper becomes  dependent  upon. 

This  bad  practice  of  running  horses  to  lose  is  so 
common  upon  the  turf,  that  it  is  a  general  saying 
here,  and  across  the  water,  that  a  well-managed  bad 
horse  is  better  than  a  badly  managed  good  one. 

Bookmakers  have  much  to  do  respecting  the  com- 
plexion of  race  course  affairs.  They  demand  large 
fields  of  horses  to  make  what  is  known  as  "round" 
betting,  and  what  the  racing  public  wants  in  the  race- 
horse entry  line  Mr.  Bookmaker  will  probably  sup- 


The  Objects  of  Racing.  45 

ply,  but  under  some  one  else's  name,  so  that  it  is  not 
readily  traceable  to  him. 

In  the  matter  of  all  g-reat  races,  positive  secrecy 
is  absolutely  required  respecting-  the  ability  of  an 
entered  horse,  if  he  promises  well.  To  be  straig-ht- 
forward  or  candid  would  almost  insure  his  defeat,  for 
there  are  hundreds  of  rascals  ready  for  a  job  to  destroy 
his  health  or  his  leg's,  if  the  opportunity  offered,  and 
an  argus-eyed,  constant  supervision  is  everlastingly 
entailed  thereby.  None  know  this  better  than  all 
owners  of  famous  horses,  like  the  Lorillards,  Dwyers, 
Cassatts,  Scotts  and  others.  Neither  must  it  be 
thoug-ht  that  because  horse-racing-  has  its  evils  it  should 
be  abolished  any  more  than  g-rowing-  vines  for  grapes 
should  be  stopped  because  the  distillations  therefrom 
make  intoxication,  or  that  the  growing-  wheat  should 
terminate  because  speculation  is  done  in  the  crops.  It 
is  undoubtedly  true  that  racing  morals  are  to-day  at  a 
low  ebb,  but  there  are  so  many  at  work  at  crooked 
objects  that  the  day  is  soon  coming  when  the  frauds 
now  practiced  will  fail  of  their  object,  and  when  all 
are  engaged  in  the  same  unworthy  deceit,  the  end 
must  be  that  they  will  all  alike  fail  and  the  evil  will 
work  out  its  own  cure.  The  betting  ring  is  a  neces- 
sary evil.  Bxuberant  and  highflying  youth  of  inex- 
perience require  depleted  exchequers  to  reduce  them 
to  sobriety.  And  the  exuberance  of  rich  old  railroad 
magnates,  so  often  seen  on  the  race  course  accom- 
panied by  their  Miss  Claras  or  Mauds,  also  require 
an  occasional  depleted  purse  as  a  safety  valve  for 
their  speculative  tendencies.     Very  few  people  not 


46  The  Objects  oe  Racing. 

specially  interested  in  racing-  know  the  exact  meaning" 
of  the  term  thoroughbred,  or  what  constitutes  one. 
It  is  that  nothing-  is  a  thoroughbred  but  what  is  derived 
from  the  Eng-lish  Stud  book.  All  are  running-  stock. 
Every  horse  or  mare  is  reg-istered  there,  and  by  com- 
mon consent  this  is  accepted  as  the  test  of  pure 
breeding-. 

All  horses,  the  produce  of  mares  and  by  stallions 
seen  therein,  are  called  thoroug-hbreds;  all  others  half 
breds,  or  "  cold  bloods,"  no  matter  how  hig-h  a  pro- 
portion of  pure  blood  possessed  by  them. 

Much  of  our  trotting-  stock  is  well  bred,  but  not 
to  be  compared  in  blood  to  the  thoroughbred. 

The  chief  roots  of  the  thoroughbred  are  the 
Byerly  Turk,  the  Darley  Arabian,  imported  in  the 
eighteenth  century  into  England,  and  the  Godolphin 
Arabian,  first  used  as  a  sire  in  1731.  In  breeding, 
however,  it  is  not  desirable,  either  theoretically  or 
practically,  to  go  back  more  than  eight  or  nine  removes 
from  the  Godolphin,  and  from  the  other  roots  still 
greater  distances.  Many  people  not  well  informed 
think  we  have  some  great  race  horses  to-day,  greater 
by  comparison  than  ever  in  the  past  history  of  the 
horse.  It  is  easy  to  reverse  this  impression.  First 
the  get  of  Herod,  foaled  in  1758,  bred  by  the  Duke  of 
Cumberland,  produced  497  winners,  and  realized  more 
than  $1,000,000,  and  this  horse's  blood  was  so  vitiated 
that  to-day  he  would  not  be  classed  a  thoroughbred, 
Now  Matchem,  foaled  in  1748,  was  a  fine  racehorse, 
and  as  a  sire  showed  354  winners  and  $750,000,  to  his 
credit.     The  great  Eclipse,  bad  tempered  brute  that 


The  Objects  of  Racing.  47 

he  was,  always  endeavored  to  destroy  his  riders  when 
opportunity  offered.  His  winning-  produce  netted 
$790,000,  and  won  344  times.  Are  we  improving  the 
breed  of  the  thoroughbred  ?  I  do  not  say  nay,  but 
Ratalpan  ran  seventy-one  races  in  the  four  years  he 
was  on  the  turf.  Thormanby  as  a  two-year-old  ran 
fifteen  times,  and  as  a  Derby  winner,  after  these  per- 
formances, was  perfectly  sound. 

The  strongest  objection  can  be  found  to  racing  in 
the  two-year-old  form.  It  is  undoubtedly  true  that 
to-day  he  is  more  speedy  than  formerly,  but  is  the 
reverse  of  lasting,  according  to  his  speed.  On  April 
2,  1885,  in  a  time  match  between  Le  Comte  and  Lex- 
ington, four  years  old.  Lexington  won— did  the  four 
miles,  with  103  pounds  up,  in  7  minutes  19 >^  seconds. 
Creditable  enough  ;  but  with  weight  taken  into 
account,  one-third  of  a  second  per  furlong  slower  than 
the  English  horses  of  the  best  record  were  doing  at 
the  same  time.  It  is  likely  that  we  are  not  up^  to 
English  performances  yet,  but  it  is  fair  to  consider 
the  loose  assertions  and  unsupported  evidence  of  many 
of  the  alleged  records  of  single  mile  performances  in 
the  last  century  absurd.  Such,  for  instance,  as  a  mile 
a  minute.  Stoutness  was  undoubtedly  more  common 
in  the  olden  time  than  now,  but  our  present  racer  is 
in  every  way  a  more  elegant  specimen  of  the  perfect 
beast,  standing  as  he  does  at  least  a  hand  higher,  and 
more  symmetrically  curved  in  fascinating  outline. 
At  the  same  time  it  is  to  be  regretted  that  we  are 
attaining  this  early  speed  at  the  cost  of  permanent 
general  improvement  of  the  breed,  the  original  pur- 


48  The  Objects  of  Racing. 

pose  of  racing,  and  when  that  purpose  is  ignored  the 
days  of  racing  prosperty  are  numbered.     The  present 
puroose  of  breeding  for  the  two-year-old  stakes,  and 
finding  purchasers  for  that  market,  undoubtedly  does 
more  than   anything   else  to   destroy  the   great  de- 
sideratum for  which  racing  should   exist — which   is 
the  production  of  the  best  type  of  useful  horse   and 
s-ood,  sound  roadsters.     Nor  does  it  appear  probable 
that,  while  the  great  monetary  inducements  abound, 
breeders  or  buyers  are  going  to  desist  from  catering 
to  this  market.     However,   unless  this  is   corrected, 
what  is  going  to  restore  the  former  condition  of  hardy 
constitution  and  legs  of  steel,  lamentably  deficient  at 
present.     If,  years  ago,  our  government  had  a  suitable 
breeding  establishment,  and    a    requisite    number  of 
trained  horses  at  the  commencement  of  the  civil  war, 
it  is  not  an  exaggeration  to  say  that  the  whole  cost  of 
maintenance  for  a  period  of  almost  fifty  years  would 
have  been  met  with  the  saving  of  a  year  or  so,  by  the 
ability  of  the  government  to  rapidly  move  large  bodies 
of  men  from  point  to  point.     Some  of  our  best  regular 
of&cers  and  admittedly  the  most   intelligent  cavalry 
men,    such  as    Lieutenant-General    Philip    Sheridan 
and  General  A.  H.  Davis,  have  repeatedly  shown  the 
utility,  economy  and  urgent  necessity  of  such  a  breed- 
ing establishment  such  as  for  many  years  past  I  have 
been  urging.     It  is  sad  to  relate  they  have  not  been 
successful  in  having   Congress  make   the    law    and 
appropriation  therefor.     In  a  country  like  ours  of  im- 
mense distances,  not  everywhere  provided  with  rail- 
road facilities,  the  necessity  for  the  use  of  extensive 


The  Objects  of  Racing.  49 

quantities  of  cavalry  horses  is  frequently  more  appar- 
ent than  occasion  calls  for  in  foreign  territory  already 
provided  with  such  establishments. 

The  sales  of  surplus  stock  and  fees  for  stal- 
lion service,  with  the  g-overnmental  prestig-e  of 
such  an  institution,  if  it  were  conducted  with  the 
ordinary  reg-ard  for  economy,  would  speedily  pay  its 
own  way  almost  if  not  quite  entirely.  From  such  a 
one  a  very  superior  class  of  horses  would  be  produced 
and  the  very  best  type  of  animal  for  useful  purposes 
would  speedily  follow.  Again,  referring  to  the  two- 
year-old  stakes,  when  breeders  and  makers  of  stakes 
realize  that  to  encourage  two-year-old  form  races  is  to 
the  great  disadvantage  of  the  perfect  horse  and 
against  the  true  interests  for  which  racing  was  and 
is  intended,  it  is  not  to  be  doubted  that  such  will 
either  be  entirely  abandoned  or  discouraged  by  small 
purses.  The  injury  that  our  yearlings  receive  from 
such  races  is  readily  apparent,  from  the  lack  of 
stamina  observed  later  in  life — partly  a  direct  inheri- 
tance of  the  evil  result  of  early  overwork  at  too  tender 
an  age  of  sire  and  dam.  The  legislature  of  the  State 
of  New  York  having  recognized  racing  as  an  institu- 
tion of  the  State,  by  virtue  of  receiving  into  the  State 
Treasurer's  office  a  portion  of  the  public  receipts,  I 
should  like  to  see  all  public  races  under  the  control  of 
a  board  to  be  designated  by  the  Senate  and  Assembl3^ 
The  members  of  our  jockey  clubs  are  too  much  con- 
cerned with  racing  themselves,  too  closely  identified 
in  some  cases  with  pool-selling  interests,  to  expect 
anything   akin  to   perfect  protection    of    the   public 


50  The  Objects  of  Racing. 

interests  or  to  reform  themselves.  But  if  obliged  to 
submit  their  prog-rammes  to  a  responsible  board,  and 
if  certain  rules  were  drawn  up  for  their  guidance  and 
they  were  compelled  to  abide  by  official  decisions,  a 
far  better  state  of  affairs  would  exist.  Betting  against 
your  own  horse  with  the  intention  of  robbing  the 
public,  running  horses  to  lose,  should  be  made  a  penal 
offence.  Until  something  of  the  kind  is  done,  the  turf 
will  not  be  restored  to  a  condition  of  genuine  utility. 
At  the  same  time,  some  regulations  as  to  odds  laid  by 
bookmakers  could  be  effected  in  the  public  interest. 
In  this  country,  where  for  instance  odds  of  ten  to  one 
are  laid,  it  can  be  confidently  asserted,  odds  of  forty  to 
one  would  be  the  current  foreign  race  course  quota- 
tions. Five  to  one  here,  twenty  to  one  there,  and  so 
on  in  the  same  ratio.  I  will  be  glad  to  see  the  time 
come  when  the  bookmakers  will  not  be  able  to  plead 
the  extortionate  charges  they  allege  are  imposed  npou 
them  by  the  associations  as  an  excuse  for  the  milking 
process  the  patient  public  are  now  receiving  from 
them. 


SI 


American  vs.  Epglisb  Horses, 


aT  the  end  of  the  last  century  and  the  beg-inning- 
of  this,  half-bred  horses  constantly  appeared 
on  the  turf,  but  since  the  establishment  of  the 
racing-  calendar,  the  thoroughbred  has,  with 
very  few  exceptions,  alone  fig-ured  at  Eng-lish  race 
meeting-s.  As  long-  ag-o  as  1750,  in  Eng-land,  a  race 
horse  had  been  produced  that  it  was  discovered  to^  be 
detrimental  to  continue  crossing-  with  Oriental  strains. 
There  has  been  much  more  intelligence  shown  in 
America  than  in  England,  up  to  a  comparatively 
recent  period,  in  breeding  only  from  stallions  which 
could  stay  a  distance,  but  unfortunately  we  are  mak- 
ing the  same  error  the  English  have  in  permitting 
short  races  and  early  profits  to  control  us.  Inevitably 
this  will  lead  to  the  propagation  of  stallions  deficient 
in  stamina  and  no  improvement  of  the  breed. 

In  long  distance  races  the  stoutly  built,  matured 
animal  will  inevitably  race  down  the  light  one,  and  in 
short  races  the  reverse  will  be  the  case.  The  love  of 
money  and  lust  for  early  gain  alone  induces  owners  to 
run  animals  before  their  bones  are  set  and  the  tissue 
of  their  bodies  fully  developed.  Of  every  1,000 
men  attending  race  meetings  950  are  indifferent  to 
everything  but  profit.  The  magnetic  influence  of  the 
bookmaker  enslaves  them,  and  the  horse  is  only  an 
object  to  make  money.  There  are  so  many  instances 
of  the  evil  results  of  the  debasing  influence  of  betting 
that  it  is  superfluous  to  enumerate  them;  a  horse  win- 
ning one  day  and  losing  the  next,  with  the  ^  same 
weight,  distance,  in  the  pink  of  condition,  and  in  the 


52  American  vs.  Engi^ish  Horses. 

same  reltively  valuable  company.  It  is  perfectly  true 
that  a  horse  may  be  fit  one  day  and  unfit  the  next,  but 
in  many  particular  cases  it  would  appear  probable  that 
the  influence  of  the  Mephistopheles  of  the  g-ambling- 
ring"  had  him  accommodated  to  the  dice  box. 

It  is  not  really  apparent  that  the  race  course  of 
to-day  is  any  advantag-e  in  the  production  of  utility  hor- 
ses, as  it  propag-ates  only  the  racing-  class,  illy  adapted 
for  g-eneral  utility  purposes,  seldom  good  at  any  pace  but 
galloping-,  and  useless  for  draft  traffic. 

If  Admiral  Rous,  the  famous  authority  of  his  day, 
was  correct  in  his  surmise  of  the  reason  for  the  great 
superiority  the  English  race  horses  attained,  that  it 
was  the  damp,  foggy  climate  of  England  making 
pasture  which  gave  him  size,  vigor  and  appetite, 
Newport,  R.  I.,  and  its  vicinity,  which  closely  re- 
sembles England  for  many  months  in  the  year,  should 
be  a  good  place  for  breeding  purposes.  Nothing 
would  encourage  the  breed  of  horses  and  elevate  the 
race  course  correspondingly  so  much  as  a  grand  na- 
tional prize  of  say  $25,000  for  the  four-year-olds  and 
upwards,  three  miles,  which  would  induce  owners  to 
show  more  mercy  to  young  stock.  The  institution  of 
larger  stakes  for  longer  distances  would,  in  a  great 
measure,  preserve  from  accidents  common  to  youth, 
and  conserve  their  powers  for  greater  performances 
than  the  American  public  has  yet  seen  on  the  race 
course.  A  singular  illustration  of  the  fact  that  his- 
tory repeats  itself,  is  that  the  love  of  racing  smouldered 
in  the  hearts  of  Americans  during  our  civil  war  just 
as  it  did  in  England  during  their  civil  wars,  and  broke 
out  into  full  flame  after  the  restoration,  when  it  fell 
to  the  lot  of  Charles  II.  to  become  one  of  the  most  dis- 
tinguished patrons  of  the  turf  it  had  ever  known. 
Charles  II.  established  the  course  at  Newmarket, 
built  a  palace  and  stables  there,  organized  race 
meetings,   and     during   his    reign,   was    the   largest 


American  vs.  Encwsh  Horses.  S3 

sing-le-handed  importer  of  Oriental  horses.  The  power 
of  Charles  II.  was  enlisted  to  introduce  Oriental 
horses  throug-h  the  medium  of  the  Duke  of  Newcastle. 

In  1667  Newcastle  published  his  work  on  horse- 
manship, which  he  dedicated  to  Charles  II.  and  it 
was  throug-h  the  strong-  impression  made  upon  his 
mind  and  his  courtiers  that  ag-ents  were  sent  to  distant 
countries  to  procure  Oriental  horses.  The  duke  was 
an  exile  during-  the  commonwealth,  visited  various 
countries,  and  in  so  doing-  was  enabled  to  note  the 
peculiarities  of  equine  stock  in  individual  countries, 
and  from  among-  them  he  selected  the  Barb  as  his 
ideal  of  what  a  horse  should  be.  The  duke,  than 
whom  none  was  at  the  period  more  competent  to  judg-e 
in  selection  of  crosses,  preferred  a  Barbary  horse,  and 
g-ave  decided  preference  after  to  a  Spanish  stallion. 
Soon  the  royal  stables  were  filled  with  the  cream  of 
Barbary,  Turkey,  Persia  and  Arabia,  and  Charles  had 
the  finest  breeding-  establishment  in  the  world,  and  it 
was  he  who  first  put  in  motion  the  animal  machinery 
which  has  ever  since  retained  its  impression  on  the 
Eng-lish,  and  consequently  the  American  blood  horse. 
It  must  be  assumed  without  fear  of  contradiction  that 
those  animals  were  mated  with  the  Oriental  importa- 
tions whose  offspring's  were  renowned  turf  winners. 

One  of  the  evil  results  of  early  training-  not  be- 
fore mentioned,  is  the  impossibility  of  conditioning-  an 
animal  at  an  early  ag-e,  say  of  a  three-year-old  even, 
as  compared  to  a  four-year  one,  every  such  young-ster 
is  sent  out  to  race  and  work  upon  imperfect  and  un- 
finished machinery.  Take,  for  instance  Stockwell, 
v/ho  had  not  eaten  for  two  days  before  running-  for  the 
Derby,  caused  by  the  soreness  of  his  g-ums  consequent 
upon  early  dentition,  and  who,  it  will  be  remembered, 
althoug-h  a  great  favorite,  failed  to  win. 

And  there  are  numerous  other  young-  horses  that 
would  have  raced  to  the  front  had  not  slig-ht  maladies 


54  American  vs.  Engi<ish  Horses. 

incidental  to  youth  retarded  their  training-  or  operated 
ag-ainst  them  upon  their  race  day.  The  English  are 
particularly  lamenting  the  fact  that  they  have  not  in- 
stituted trotting  races,  and  consequently  derived  a 
breed  of  stalwart  carriag-e  horses.  They  also  regret 
that  they  have  not  followed  the  American  custom  of 
breeding-  from  stallions  which  stay  a  distance.  Had 
the  English  had  the  shrewdness  their  experience  should 
have  g-iven  them,  they  would  not  have  permitted  the 
exportation  of  Messeng-er,  by  Mambrino,  who,  in  1768 
was  considered  a  wonderfully  fast  trotter  for  a  race 
horse. — ("Book  of  the  Horse.")  Sidney's  Mambrino 
was  the  g-randson  of  Sampson,  the  "  strongest  horse," 
acording-  to  Laurence,  "that  ever  raced  before  or  since 
his  time."  Messeng-er,  in  America,  became  a  pro- 
g-enitor  of  some  of  the  best  trotting-  stock  we  ever 
had.  One  of  the  reasons  why  we  excel  the  English,  not 
alone  in  the  variety  of  horses,  is  the  extensive  ranges 
of  pasture  we  have  and  the  means  for  enclosure — the 
abundance  of  building-  wood  g"iving-  us  facilities  for 
inclosing-  our  stock  from  the  inclemency  of  the 
weather,  and  another  is,  we  have  more  intelli- 
g-ently  amalgamated  them  with  native  and  crossbred 
stock,  and  at  times  eng-rafted  thoroughbred  blood  with 
trotting-  stock. 

First-class  trotting-  roadsters  of  the  three-minute 
class  have  been  produced  by  this  crossing,  although  it 
would  be  hard  to  discover  an  instance  of  a  close 
thoroug-hbred  cross  producing-  any  very  low  time  re- 
cord animal  for  trotting,  breeders  contending  that  low 
time  cannot  be  accomplished  because  there  is  an  op- 
posing- nature  in  the  thoroughbred  fixed  and  estab- 
lished by  continuous  breeding-  that  annuls  the  inherit- 
ance of  the  trotter  and  fails  to  yield  to  it.  Although 
the  Eng-lish  people  boast  of  the  superiority  of  the 
shape  of  their  horses,  I  fail  to  see  it.  Madison 
Square  Garden  horse  shows  have  compared  very  favor- 


American  vs.  Engwsh  Horses.  55 

ably  with  Isling-ton.  While  there  were  in  some  instan- 
ces more  numerous  entries  in  particular  classes,  such 
for  instance,  as  the  Hunters,  at  Isling-ton,  there  was 
a  better  and  more  disting-uished  looking-  lot  of  all 
round  equine  performers  here. 

If  Great  Britain  would  introduce  cross-breeding- 
with  the  thoroug-hbred  and  Arabian,  and  form  arenas 
for  training-,  discontinue  early  training-  and  short  dis- 
tance courses,  great  benefits  would  accrue  to  her,  and 
in  a  few  years  they  would  be  perhaps  able  to  meet  us 
on  our  own  g-round,  the  trotting-  track.  They  are  able 
to  meet  us  on  the  running-  course  to-day,  and  at  times 
excel  our  thoroug-hbred  race  horses'  performances,  sim- 
ply from  the  fact  that  with  this  particular  class  of 
horse  we  have  fallen  into  the  same  error  that  our 
Eng-lish  brethren  have — of  short  courses,  too  early 
training-,  and  racing-  too  young. 


56 


Anecdotes  of  tbe  Turf, 


COMPARISONS  are  odious,  but  it  is  a  pity  that 
we  have  not  among-  us  at  horse  auctions  some 
one  like  the  late  Richard  Tattersall,  of  Eng-- 
land.  He  was  a  man  who,  from  his  simple  hon- 
esty and  straig-htforward,  decisive  manner,  it  was  im- 
possible to  misunderstand.  He  was  a  perfect  terror  to 
crooked  men,  and  was  one  of  a  kind  that  the  best  men 
liked  best.  He  spoke  his  mind  to  every  one,  peer  and 
groom  alike,  who  he  considered  were  about  to  try 
on  ways  that  were  devious,  and  his  sentiments  were 
pretty  unmistakable.  If  the  servants  or  ag*ents  of  the 
owner  bid  when  the  sale  was  "without  reserve"  he 
has  been  known  to  send  the  whole  stud  away  after 
the  first  horse,  declaring-  in  tones  like  a  view  halloa 
piercing  the  heavens,  that  he  would  tell  a  lie  for  no 
man. 

Richard  Tattersall  died  suddenly  in  1858,  at  Dover, 
in  his  seventy-fourth  year,  from  exhaustion  brought  on 
by  the  heat.  A  large  fortune  and  the  respect  and  esteem 
of  the  community  awaits  any  one  in  the  large  cities  of 
the  United  States,  who,  resisting  all  temptations  to 
crooked  ways,  will  conduct  horse  and  carriage  auc- 
tion sales  upon  strictly  honest  principles,  and,  apart 
from  the  morality  or  immorality  of  devious  manage- 
ment, has  a  firm  belief  that  honesty  is  the  best  policy. 
I  don't  think  such  sales  have  ever  really  been  tried  in 
this  country  for  any  length  of  time — not  sufficiently 
so,  at  least,  to  give  them  a  fair  trial.  Plenty  of  men 
have  started  out  with  the  determination  to  conduct 
horse  auctions  with  a  strict  regard  for  honesty,  but 


Anecdotes  of  the  Turf.  57 

few  have  had  the  patience  to  remain  in  the  field  and 
conduct  business  with  rectitude,  rig-orously  reject- 
ing- the  g-ains  possible  by  deviation  from  moral 
paths.  Mr.  Tattersall's  father  and  the  Prince 
Regent  had  once  been  partners  in  the  London 
Morni7ig  Post,  and  had  to  pay  $29,000  damages  for  a 
delicate  court  disclosure.  Shortly  after  this  the 
paper  passed  into  other  hands,  but  the  royal  connec- 
tion with  the  son  remained  g-ood.  Tattersall  had  a 
very  hig-h  social  position.  Count  Munster  was  on 
g-ood  terms  with  him.  When  George  Guelph  became 
king,  he  cautioned  Tattersall  not  to  forget,  if  any  of 
the  friends  of  his  youth  g-ot  into  difficulties,  to  send 
him  word.  And  whenever  any  of  his  old  acquaintances 
were  "out  at  elbows"  royal  checks  for  from  $500  to 
$2,500  would  be  sent  them  upon  solicitation  of  Tatter- 
sall. Parson  Harvey  was  an  old  friend  of  Tattersall, 
and  would  frequently  attend  his  sales.  Before  Tat- 
tersall would  have  his  sale  half  finished,  Harvey 
would  be  asleep.  "  Let  him  sleep,  poor  fellow,  it's  a 
sweeter  place  than  the  garret  he  has  !  "  Tattersall 
would  say.  One  of  Tattersall's  friends  was  a  racing- 
man  of  wide  repute,  named  Vernon,  who  wandered  all 
over  Eng-land.  This  Vernon  was  a  character.  He  used 
to  paint  his  horse  like  a  leopard,  and  ride  through  the 
sporting-  towns.  But  no  one  attracted  more  attention 
than  the  man  who  had  a  spavined,  ag-ed  white  horse, 
who  had  painted  in  black  letters  upon  his  sides,  "This 
horse  has  never  been  treated  to  E's  Embrocation, 
which  cures  all  horse  ailments,"  and  immediately  be- 
hind this  horse  came  another  of  the  same  color,  but 
a  mag-nificent  specimen  of  a  charg-er,  high-knee  ac- 
tion full  of  fire  and  ambition,  upon  whose  sides  were 
painted,  "This  horse  was  worse  than  he  who  has 
g-one  before,  but  he  did  use  E's  Embrocation." 

As  the  people  of  leisure  are  increasing  so  greatly 
in  the  United  States,  they  are  rapidly  learning-  that 


58  Anecdotes  of  the  Turf. 

more  all-around  pleasure  can  be  obtained  in  combina- 
tion with  health  in  horse  baxk-riding",  than  in  any 
other  form  of  utilization  of  the  horse. 

To  ladies  who  have  taken  up  the  art  of  equestrian- 
ism do  we  owe  much.  For  some  reason  or  another 
women  are  often  pluckier  than  men  in  this  branch 
of  pleasurable  performance.  Whether  it  is  because 
they  are  not  dependent  upon  their  activity  in  trade 
for  their  maintainance  in  case  of  accident,  or  because 
their  pluck  is  the  result  of  cultivation,  I  am  not  pre- 
pared to  say. 

But  they  are  certainly  enthusiasts,  and  if  they 
had  lived  in  the  days  of  the  emperor,  who  made  his 
horse  a  consul,  they  would  have  cast  their  in- 
fluence in  favor  of  a  vote  of  confidence  in  the  g-overn- 
ment.  The  ladies  of  the  Empire  State  are  not  sur- 
passed in  their  rivalry  for  fine  saddle  horses  by  that 
of  any  of  the  enthusiasts  of  the  great  riding-s  of  York- 
shire, to  which  the  g-reat  Eng-lish  sporting-  blood  owes 
its  influence.  And  it  is  to  the  sporting-  blood  of 
American  women  that  the  parks  of  the  principal  cities 
of  the  United  States  show  that  our  fair  American 
Dianas  rival  their  transatlantic  cousins  in  their  "wind- 
ing- of  the  horn,"  and  their  carrying-  of  "  the  hawke 
fair." 

I  knew  a  lady  who  had  a  strong-  desire  to  possess 
some  Arabs,  and  so  she  imported  three.  I  was  invited 
frequently  to  accompany  her  in  her  rides,  making-  at 
the  time  many  studies  of  the  characteristics  of  the 
Arab.  The  leading-  features  in  a  race  we  found  to  be 
that  they  were  very  quick  in  g-etting-  oif,  and  like 
most  horses  with  their  hocks  well  under  them, 
showed  a  disposition  to  cut  each  other  down  from  the 
very  post.  Their  -speed  was  not  very  remarkable,  but 
they  could  keep  their  top  notch  up  to  about  two 
miles.  They  have  very  g-ood  leg-s  naturally,  al- 
though with  a  tendency  to  calf-knees.      They  are  de- 


Anecdotes  oe  the  Ture.  59 

plorable  stumblers.  One  of  their  strong-  character- 
istics, attributable  to  their  compact  form,  is  their 
overstepping,  which  sometimes  goes  to  the  extent  of 
twelve  to  fourteen  inches,  whereas  the  English  horses 
seldom  do  more  than  clear  their  footprint.  The  Arab 
experts  lay  great  stress  upon  this  point  as  indicative 
of  the  highest  racing  capacity.  Light  greys  and  bays 
are  the  most  approved  colors. 

Arabs  are  highly  courageous,  and  learn  to  stop 
and  turn  quickly  in  a  short  space.  The  finest  Arab  is 
remarkably  beautiful,  with  small  head,  fine  eyes,  neat 
ears,  and  the  clean  jowl  of  his  patrician  brother,  the 
thoroughbred.  The  residence  of  this  lady,  who  was 
so  devoted  a  horsewoman,  as  to  import  her  own  sons 
of  the  desert,  was  surrounded  with  all  the  associations 
of  hunting  and  racing,  so  dear  to  horsemen.  It  was 
the  home  of  her  family  for  generations,  and  nestled 
at  the  foot  of  a  hill,  overlooking  the  Great  South  Bay, 
Long  Island.  As  far  as  the  eye  could  reach,  one 
could  see  the  broad  Atlantic  Ocean  beyond  the  sand 
dunes ;  a  rude  wooden  lighthouse  was  at  the  foot  of 
a  lane,  leading  down  to  the  deep,  blue  seaboard.  As 
the  breezes  swept  over  us  on  a  beautiful  July  day,  we 
saw  the  yellow  harvest  fields  on  the  left-hand  side, 
and  Long  Island  woodlands  growing  green  down  to 
the  very  edge  of  the  beach.  Following  the  gently 
curving  lines  of  creamy  spray,  we  saw  the  outward 
bound  ocean  steamer  on  her  European  errand,  fol- 
lowed by  clangorous  sea  fowl. 

There  were  many  stories  told  in  those  bright 
days  around  the  festive  board  of  the  eccentricities  of 
horses.  How  it  was  necessary  to  tie  up  Lucetta  by  a 
piece  of  twine,  or  she  would  have  been  nervous  and 
broken  everything.  How  Pickpocket  would  never  let 
his  jockey  mount  except  he  had  a  coat  over  his  white 
satin  jacket,  simply  because  he  once  picked  his  own- 
er's pocket  of  a  white  handkerchief,  and  became  so 


60  Anecdotes  of  the  Turf. 

frig-htened  at  the  flopping-,  that  he  clinched  his  teeth 
and  would  not  drop  it.  How  Lig^htning-  would  never 
go  into  a  stable  unless  buffed,  and  then  he  would 
enter  by  himself.  A  story  was  told  of  the  Godolphin 
Arabian,  that,  when  he  flattened  out  his  own  cat  by 
mistake,  he  missed  it  so  much  that  he  pined  from  re- 
morse, and  savag-ed  every  other  cat  that  was  put  in  to 
him.  These  and  many  other  stories  were  related  from 
time  to  time,  which  made  the  sunny  hours  of  summer 
mornings,  and  the  fireside  nights  of  winter  glow  with 
interest  at  this  bright  homestead.  The  desire  for 
companionship  is  so  strong  in  some  horses  that  they 
actually  lose  flesh  unless  in  company.  No  cat  would 
satisfy  Gemma  di  Vergy,  and  his  trainer  was  obliged 
to  have  a  boy  sit  by  day  in  his  stable  and  read  a 
newspaper,  and  at  night  to  sleep  close  by.  The 
habit  began  when  he  was  a  yearling.  He  climbed 
over  a  partition,  no  man  can  tell  how  to  this  day,  so 
as  to  get  at  the  window,  and  was  espied  with  his 
feet  on  the  window-sill ,  gravely  looking  out  into 
the  yard. 


61 


Hiot5  for  Drivers. 


TO  drive  a  sitig-le  horse  is  a  very  simple  act,  and 
requires  only  a  good  hand  and  a  good  eye. 
The  near  rein  should  pass  over  the  forefinger, 
and  the  off  between  it  and  the  middle  finger, 
and  then  pass  through  the  hand,  descending  from  the 
palm  to  the  side  of  the  knees.  The  hands  should  never 
be  higher  than  an  inch  or  two  above  the  knees,  and 
should  reach  several  inches  beyond  them;  this  will  en- 
able the  driver  to  pull  up  short  in  an  emergency. 
Nothing  looks  worse  than  to  see  the  hands  raised 
high.  The  thumb  keeps  the  near  rein  firmly  against 
the  forefinger,  and  it  is  a  good  plan  to  pass  both 
reins  out  of  the  hand  between  the  little  and  ring  fing- 
ers, so,  without  giving  an  undue  pressure,  they  could 
not  slip  through  the  fingers  should  the  horse  stumble. 

This  will  save  many  an  accident  for  it  will  pre- 
vent the  thumb  and  forefinger  suffering  the  rein  to 
slip,  and  the  reins  are  held  more  securely  and  with 
less  fatigue  to  the  hand.  It  is  better  to  avoid  the  use 
of  the  check  rein,  for  only  in  the  case  of  people  too 
lazy  to  keep  a  firm  hand  is  the  check  rein  of  any  use 
whatever.  Of  course,  if  you  throw  the  reins  loosely 
and  indifferently^  over  the  horse's  back,,  a  ch^ck  rein 
is  admirable;  people  who  drive  this  way,  had  better 
be  driven  and  not  try  to  drive  themselves. 

A  check  rein  confines  the  animal's  head,  and 
retards  that  quick  and  perfect  control  of  the  horse's 
powers  for  the  essential  exertion  of  recovery.  There 
are  cases  of  old  and  infirm  horses,  early  applicants 
for  the  bone  yard,  which  depend  upon  the  check  rein 
for  support,  and  to  such  it  would  be  advisable  only  to 
continue  its  use.      Very  straight-necked  horses,    of 


62  Hints  for  Drivers. 

which  there  are  a  few  accustomed  to  hang-ing  heavily 
upon  the  bit,  are  also  better  driven  with  the  check 
rein. 

Neither  hold  too  tight  a  rein,  for  a  gag-g-ed  horse 
will  constantly  be  making  mistakes.  Allow  the 
mouth  of  the  horse  to  just  feel  your  hand,  and  give 
the  head  a  fair  amount  of  liberty.  This  leads  the 
horse  to  play  with  the  bit,  which  is  the  acme  of  per- 
fection in  "bitting"  the  animal.  It  means  a  ten- 
dency to  keep  within  the  bit  and  avoid  the  pressure, 
which  a  finely  bitted  mouth  will  always  show.  In  a 
highly  bred  horse,  when  the  hand  is  relaxed,  there 
will  be  a  constant  inclination  to  press  forward. 
Going  up  hill  always  give  the  horse  his  head,  even 
perfect  liberty.  Down  hill  take  a  short  hold  of  the 
reins,  keep  your  knees  straight  and  feet  well  out, 
ready  to  sustain  a  stumble,  but  without  pulling  the 
animal  too  far  back,  and  ^  avoid  hitting  his  hocks 
against  any  part  of  the  carriage. 

In  driving  a  pair  be  particular  that  they  are  so 
hitched  as  to  pull  evenly  together.  Two  slow  horses 
are  better  than  one  good  horse  and  a  "  plug,"  for  the 
whip  applied  to  one  only  makes  the  other  more  excit- 
able, and  it  is  impossible  to  make  them  draw  evenly. 
The  coupling  rein  of  the  free  horse  should  be  taken 
off  and  the  idle  one  let  out.  The  pole  piece  should 
be  your  guiding  point  always.  If  both  are  slack,  the 
end  of  the  pole  steady,  neither  horse  shouldering  it, 
you  may  be  assured  that  they  are  each  doing  their 
share.  If,  however,  the  pole  is  shouldered,  that 
horse  is  a  rogue  and  making  the  other  horse  do  more 
than  his  share,  the  pole  being  kept  straight  by  the 
pressure  of  the  shoulder  instead  of  the  pull  at  the 
traces.  If  either  horse  is  pulling  away  from  the  pole 
he  is  doing  more  than  his  share — then  take  in  the 
coupling  rein  accordingly.  If  both  horses  should 
spread  .from  the  pole,  which  is  a  very  ugly  trick,  alter 


Hints  for  Drivers.  63 

the  coupling"  reins  of  both,  letting-  them  out  for 
shouldering-,  taking-  them  in  for  the  opposite.  When 
you  have  active  and  safe  g-oers,  avoid  coupling-  reins 
on  teams.  However  in  visiting-  towns  and  long-  delays 
they  are  useful  for  show  purposes,  as  they  will  stand  in 
more  majestic  form  and  appear  better  borne  up.  When 
going-  around  a  curve  flip  gently  with  the  whip  the 
outside  horse,  combined  by  pulling  the  outside  rein. 
Do  not,  however,  use  the  whip  frequently,  in  fact  as 
seldom  as  possible,  but  determinedly  when  necessary, 
to  remind  the  horses  of  their  work.  It  is  a  good 
thing  to  occasionally  change  the  position  of  your 
teams  as  this  will  lessen  the  formation  of  bad  habits. 
This  will  make  what  was  a  puller  from  the  pole  bear 
to  it  when  reversed. 

Teach  your  horses  to  know  your  voice  when  in 
the  stable  and  out  on  the  road — it  soothes  them  and 
is  invaluable  in  an  emergency.  If  your  horses,  are 
restless  avoid  passing  and  repassing  noisy  bridges 
with  loose  planks,  and  seek  retired  drives  along  coun- 
try roads.  If  you  are  not  feeling  well,  or  are  weak 
from  illness,  be  driven,  do  not  drive;  a  spirited  team 
that  has  successfully  and  unpunished  run  away  with 
you  should  be  mounted  immediately  afterward,  each 
in  turn  by  a  hard  riding  groom,  and  made  to  run  on 
a  straight  road  until  they  are  thoroughly  pumped 
out,  and  then  flogged. 

I  have  tried  it  with  various  other  treatments,  and 
found  it  the  only  really  certain  cure.  Keep  a  cool 
head  in  danger,  and  never  jump  from  a  vehicle  unless 
it  is  certain  death  from  an  impending  precipice,  or 
something  of  that  nature,  and  in  nine  cases  out  of  ten 
you  will  come  out  "  this  side  up  with  care." 


64 


Experts  017  Hor^ebacH. 


HER  Imperial  Majesty  the  Empress  of  Austria, 
and  the  ex-Queen  of  Naples  cared  nothing-  for 
riding-  until  comparatively  late  in  life.  Now 
both  of  them  are  considered  in  Europe,  from 
a  horsey  scientific  point  of  view,  at  the  head  of  the  pro- 
cession. The  Empress'  style  of  riding-  is  considered 
perfect,  her  manner  of  mounting-,  sitting-  and  manag-e- 
ment  is  said  to  be  necessary  to  see  to  appreciate.  It  is 
said  that  she  finds  little  difficulty  in  standing-  upon  a 
bare-backed  steed  and  driving-  four  others  in  long-  reins. 
She  has  attached  to  her  palace  a  circus,  and  encourages 
the  ladies  of  her  court  by  prizes  and  evidences  of  per- 
sonal favors  when  they  emulate  her  example.  The 
Empress  is  also  said  to  be  personally  very  beautiful,  in 
combination  with  rare  sweetness  and  charity.  From 
overriding  she  has  contracted  some  trouble  that  rarely 
permits  her  to  ride  now  any  distance.  So  that  even 
empresses  have  their  pet  diversions  taken  from  them. 
Ladies  who  ride  and  ride  well  are  frequently 
prouder  of  the  accomplishment  than  if  they  played  the 
piano  with  fine  execution  or  sung  in  the  highest  style 
of  the  vocal  gamut.  So,  to  those  who  are  not  quite 
adepts  at  the  art,  here  are  some  elementary  points: 
When  your  horse  breaks  into  a  canter  never  lay  a  grim 
grip  upon  the  pommel ;  many  who  claim  to  be  good 
performers  I  have  seen  do  this  unconsciousl3\  It  is 
often  amusing  to  watch  the  grave  faces  of  fair  equest- 
riennes who  lean  very  far  forward  and  over  their 
horses'  necks,  where  a  smile  and  an  erect  seat  would 
have  greatly  enhanced  the  charm  of  the  scene. 

•  It  is  a  generally  accepted  idea  that  riding,  like 


Experts  on  Horseback.  65 

music  and  the  fine  arts,  should  be  learned  as  a  child  ; 
that  the  earlier  learned  the  better  and  the  greater  the 
proficiency.     This  is  an  erroneous  opinion  that  had 
better   be  rejected.     Children   of   a  very  tender   ag-c 
should  not  be  allowed  to  ride.     They  cannot  do  so  un- 
less put  upon  ponies  which  are  lamb-like  in  demeanor, 
and,  g-rowing-  accustomed  to  such  and  none  other,  be- 
come  nervous   and   frig-htened  when  mounted  upon 
spirited   animals.     They   have   neither   the   physical 
endurance  to  manag-e  nor  the  science  to  control,  con- 
sequently they  suffer  themselves  to  be  controlled  and 
exting-uish  their  opportunity  to  become  accomplished 
horsewomen.  These  remarks  are  especially  made  with 
respect  to  little  g-irls ;    boys  have  not  such  delicate 
frames  nor  weakly  wrists,  nor  are  their  shoulders  apt 
to  go  awry,  as  little  girls'  do  who  sit  sideways.     If 
boys  tumble  off  it  does  not  much  matter,  in  many  cases 
doing  them  all  the  good  in  the  world.     Like  rubber 
balls,  they  can  bound  back  again.     It  is  absolutely 
essential  that  in  order  to  ride  well  you  shall  not  be  a 
coward.     Your  horse  will  surely  find  it  out,  will  laugh 
at  you,  for   horses   certainly  do  frequently  gammon 
their  riders.    Without  determination,  courage  and  con- 
fidence, do  not  aspire  to  the  art.     Timidity  alone  is  an 
insurmountable  obstacle,  and  cowardice  becomes  im- 
parted to  the  horse.     Do  not  ask  a  child  to  ride  who 
has  no  decided  taste  for  it,  for  like  unwilling  hands 
with  pencil  and  brush  thrust  in  them,  the  art  will  not 
be  elevated.     A  love  for  horses,  with  a  decided  taste, 
will  overcome  all  difficulties,  with  the  innate  facility 
that  a  determined  enthusiast  accomplishes  ;    and  the 
magic  sense  of  touch,  the  facile  delicacy  of  manipula- 
tion will  soon  come  that  makes  good  hands. 

Gaudy  dressing  for  girls,  boys,  women  or  men  on 
horseback  should  be  severely  condemned,  and  stamps 
the  person  as  one  of  inferior  taste.  Ribbons,  colored 
veils,  showy  flov/ers,  should  be  shunned,  and  corduroy 


66  Experts  on  Horseback. 

or  velvet  with  men  should  be  discarded.     Quietness 
even  to  severity  should  be  shown. 

The  invention  of  rising-  on  the  saddle  is  credited 
to  Dan  Seffert,  an  expert  steeple-chase  rider,  and  a 
master  of  the  cross-country  art  in  detail.  We  should 
thank  him  heartily  for  it,  as  it  is  a  decided  improve- 
ment on  the  jog"  trot  adopted  by  cavalry,  which,  while 
imparting-  to  their  purposes  uniformity  of  motion  in 
line  riding,  is  not  suited  to  men  or  women,  either  for 
appearances  or  for  health.  It  does  not  happen  to  all 
to  ever  acquire  the  knack  of  g-uiding-  from  "balance." 
Many  pass  a  lifetime  without  practically  comprehend- 
ing- the  meaning-  of  the  term.  It  is  difficult  to  acquire, 
but  amply  repays  the  labor.  Those  who  do  not  ride 
from  balance  do  so  from  the  horse's  head,  a  practice 
very  reprehensible.  Nothing  can  be  worse  than  to  ride 
one  horse  to  the  exclusion  of  others.  Horses  vary 
immensely  as  to  their  action  and  g-oing-,  the  g-ait  of 
each  being  as  different  as  the  music  of  Wag-ner  and 
Donizetti,  so  if  you  do  not  become  accustomed  to  a 
variety  you  will  take  your  idea  from  one  alone,  and  when 
upon  a  strange  animal  find  yourself  completely  at  sea. 
Should  you  desire  to  learn  how  to  take  a  jump, 
commence  in  this  way  :  Put  up  a  jump  a  foot  hig-h  ; 
then  raise  it  a  few  inches  daily  until  the  requisite 
height  has  been  reached.  If  your  mount  does  his  work 
well  reward  the  beast  with  a  lump  of  sugar  or  handful 
of  oats  afterward.  Do  not  confine  your  horse's  head 
in  coming-  to  the  jump.  A  g-ood  hunter  will  shake  free 
his  head  coming-  to  a  jump.  A  confined  head  frequent- 
ly means  a  roll  over.  A  horse's  instinct  tells  him 
where  to  put  his  feet,  and  to  pull,  drag-  or  saw  at  a 
horse  irritates  him  and  deprives  him  of  sense  or  sight. 
Lean  forward  as  you  come  to  your  jump,  with  body  as 
limber  as  possible.  When  in  air,  say,  midway,  g-radu- 
ally  incline  backward  until,  when  the  horse  is  landing-, 
you  are  far  back,  by  which  time  you  may  take  a  firm 


Experts  on  Horseback.  67 

but  not  violent  hold  of  the  reins,  so  as  to  sustain  the 
animal  if  it  should  stumble.  All  of  which  requires  a 
level,  cool  head,  coming"  of  practice  alone.  One  day 
of  practice  is  v^^orth  all  the  theory  in  the  world. 

It  would  be  difficult  to  find  any  country  on  the 
globe  where  better  all-round  horsemen  are  seen  than 
in  Ireland,  and  Punchestowne  is  the  place  to  see  the 
work  done  to  perfection.  A  mere  lad  by  the  name  of 
Paddy  Gavin,  weig-hing-  sixty-three  pounds,  rode  and 
won  the  Prince  of  Wales'  steeplechase  on  Blush-rose, 
and  youthful  Master  McDonog-h's  feats  should  not  be 
permitted  to  g-o  unsung-.  There  was  an  awfully  severe 
country  laid  out  in  Bandon,  county  Cork,  where  all 
the  celebrated  horses  of  the  country  were  entered, 
(some  of  which  were  afterwards  sold  to  the  g-reat 
Marquis  of  Waterford  for  a  stiff  price,  so  they  were 
not  a  contemptible  lot),  the  distance  was  four  and  a 
half  miles,  and  McDonogh,  who  was  riding-  Sailor, 
fell  four  times,  yet  so  active  was  his  pilot  that  he  was 
as  quickly  in  the  saddle  as  out  of  it.  At  this  fourth 
and  last  fall  the  horse  chested  the  bank,  flung-  his 
rider  some  distance  from  him,  and  having-  a  tight  hold 
of  the  horses'  reins,  the  throat  lash  gave  way  and  the 
bridle  came  off.  As  Sailor  was  g-etting-  on  his  leg's 
McDonogh  jumped  into  the  saddle,  and  setting  his 
horse  g'oing-  was  soon  in  pursuit  of  the  leaders. 
There  were  in  the  one  and  a  half  miles  yet  to  be  trav- 
elled nearly  ten  awkward  double  post  and  rail  fences. 
The  third  impediment  was  a  "boreen,"  so  called  in 
Ireland,  which  is  a  narrow  lane  with  an  intricate 
bank  in  and  out  of  it.  The  riders  of  two  noted 
horses,  Valentine  and  Monarch,  had  bridles,  conse- 
quently they  could  steady  their  horses  and  jump  in 
and  out  "clear."  Not  so  with  McDonogh,  who 
had  only  a  whip  to  steady  and  g-uide  his  horse. 
Steering- the  animal  for  the  "boreen,"  and,  putting- 
him  at  his  best  pace  and  without  laying-  an  iron  on  it, 


68  Experts  on  Horseback. 

he  went  from  field  to  field  and  landed  along-side  the 
leaders.  The  riders  of  the  other  horses,  seeing-  he 
had  no  power  to  g-uide  his  mount,  endeavored  to  put 
him  outside  a  post  that  had  to  be  g-one  round  to  make 
the  turn  into  the  straight  line  for  home;  but  the 
young-  jockey,  stretching  his  arms  almost  round  his 
horse's  nose,  by  some  means  got  him  straight,  and 
making  the  remainder  of  the  running,  won  easily. 
Valentine's  rider  objected  to  Sailor  for  not  having 
carried  a  bridle,  but  Mr.  McDonogh  was  able  to  draw 
the  weight,  and  was  declared  the  winner  amid  the 
wildest  enthusiasm. 

The  other  extraordinar}^  performance  occurred  on 
his  pet  mount,  the  celebrated  Irish  horse  Brunette. 
When  riding  Mountain  Kate  the  previous  day  over 
the  same  course  he  was  crossed  by  an  old  woman  at 
an  ugly  up-bank.  The  horse  struck  the  woman  in 
the  chest  and  very  nearly  put  an  end  to  his  rider  also, 
who  in  the  fall  got  his  collar  bone  and  six  ribs  broken. 

The  late  Dr.  Russell,  of  Cashel,  was  quickly  by 
his  side,  and  telling  the  Marquis  of  Waterford  of  the 
serious  nature  of  McDonogh's  injuries,  the  marquis 
sent  for  his  carriage,  and  with  two  post-horses  speed- 
ily took  the  invalid  to  the  hotel  in  Cashel.  The  col- 
lar bone  set  and  bandaged,  he  passed  a  miserable 
night.  Brunette  was  in  the  race  next  day,  and  as  he 
v/ould  allow  no  other  man  to  sit  on  his  back,  he  got 
out  of  his  bed,  mounted  the  mare,  and,  bandaged  as 
he  was  and  in  great  pain,  won  the  race,  much  to 
the  amazement  of  the  Marquis  of  Waterford,  whose 
Regalia  was  second,  his  lordstip  remarking,  jest- 
ingly, that  if  he  had  known  Brunette's  master  v/ould 
have  ridden  her  he  would  have  left  him  lying  at  the 
bank.  Astonishing  as  these  equine  acts  are  the  day 
is  not  distant  when  such  performances  will  be 
equalled  here,  as  the  love  of  racing  and  riding  has 
taken  a  complete  hold  of  the  people  of  the  United  States. 


69 


Horse  Dealers'  TricHs, 


ONE  would  necessarily  imag-ine  that  a  thoroug-h 
ktiowledg-e  of  horse  flesh  would  be  the  prime 
necessity  for   a  horse  dealer,  but  a  one  of 
human  nature  is  far  more  essential.      It   is 
far  easier  to  find  a  horse  for  a  purchaser  than  a  pur- 
chaser for  a  horse. 

Grooms  are  often  heard  to  say,  "  the  party  which 
belongs  to  the  bay  or  chestnut  horse,"  and  there  is 
more  force  in  the  expression  than  might  be  supposed. 
The  man  who  has  bought  a  horse  which  he  is  afraid 
to  ride,  lest  he  should  fall  off,  afraid  not  to  ride  lest  he 
should  be  called  a  coward,  and  afraid  to  sell  lest  he 
should  be  a  loser,  is  literally  the  slave  and  not  the 
master  of  the  beast.  It  is  he  that  belongs  to  the  horse, 
and  not  the  horse  that  belongs  to  him. 

During  the  next  month  or  two  there  will  be  many 
visits  to  horse  dealers'  establishments  with  a  view  to 
summer  equipment  in  horse  flesh,  particularly  for  the 
saddle. 

Dealers  have  now  in  their  stables  a  stock  of  horses 
of  various  dispositions  and  afflicted  with  a  variety  of 
infirmities,  and  it  is  a  dealer's  business  to  find  a  cus- 
tomer for  every  horse.  Like  the  clerical  tailor  who 
told  a  young  curate  that  in  a  certain  coat  he  would  be 
able  to  hold  any  views  he  pleased,  a  dealer  has  gener- 
ally one  or  two  horses  which  would  suit  any  rider  or 


70  Horse  Deai^ers'  Tricks. 

driver,  but  they  are  kept  as  a  last  resource.  The  horse 
dealer's  theory  is  that  every  man  and  horse  has  his 
little  peculiarities. 

Not  only  does  he  try  to  fit  particular  men  to  par- 
ticular horses,  but  a  shrewd  dealer  varies  his  treat- 
ment of  customers  according-  to  their  different  disposi- 
tions. If  a  nervous  man  comes  to  him  to  buy  a  nice, 
quiet  saddler,  he  takes  him  to  some  far  away  street, 
far  from  the  elevated  roads  and  noisy  vehicles.  The 
horse  is  g-iven  some  soothing*  medicine,  and  the  cus- 
tomer thinks  him  a  parag-on  of  virtue,  a  horse  with 
whom  he  believes  he  can  *'live  happily  with  forever 
after."  He  anxiously  purchases  him  at  the  price  of 
equine  perfection,  for  he  could  not  have  asked  a  fairer 
trial,  and  he  requires  no  conditions. 

A  g-eneral  smashup  soon  follows,  and  the  sold 
buyer  eagerly  looks  around  among-  his  dear  friends  to 
find  a  purchaser  for  his  prize.  If  the  customer  happens 
to  be  a  recently  g-raduated  collegian,  come  to  buy  a 
nice,  quiet  hunter,  he  takes  him  to  a  convenient  farm 
in  Westchester.  Two  or  three  steady  horses  are 
brought  thither  and  the  colleg-ian,  ambitious  to  g-o 
with  the  Meadowbrooks  or  Kssex  County  Hunt,  to  be 
in  the  fashionable  swim,  is  g-iven  free  permission  to 
try  them  over  any  fence  he  pleases.  He  may  break 
all  their  necks  and  all  their  backs  if  he  pleases. 

Comforted  by  this  sug-g-estion,  he  perhaps  rides 
them  nervously  over  two  or  three  g-aps.  Mild  as  is  the 
ordeal,  he  has  had  what  is  technically  known  as  a 
"liberal  trial,"  and  he  cannot  afterward  complain  if 
the  horse  turns  out  a  worthless  hunter.  If  he  refuses 
to  "lark"  the  horses  himself  and  requests  that  one  of 
the  men  may  do  it  instead,  the  dealer  is  better  pleased. 
A  lad  is  in  readiness,  whose  special  business  it  is  to 
attend  to  this  duty.  In  his  hands  the  horses  go  over 
fences  like  machines.  As  the  dealer  himself  expresses 
it,   "The  manners  of  each  are  perfection."     At  last 


Horse  Deai^ers'  Tricks.  71 

the  boy  mounts  a  venerable  screw,  and  throwing-  the 
reins  loosely  on  its  neck,  he  puts  his  hands  in  his 
pockets  and  rides  over  a  small  fence.  With  some  prac- 
tice this  is  not  by  any  means  an  impossible  feat  on  a 
quiet  horse,  and  it  has  an  immense  influence  upon  the 
timid  customer.  The  horse  is  satisfactory,  and  he 
asks  for  no  conditions.  Can  he  afterward  grumble 
when  the  horse  is  lame  three  fourths  of  its  time,  re- 
fuses to  jump  water,  proves  dang-erous  at  timber,  and 
drops  its  hind  legs  into  blind  ditches  ? 

The  dealer's  method  of  dealing  with  a  hard-riding- 
customer  is  quite  different.  He  makes  no  suggestion 
about  going  to  the  Westchester  or  Long  Island  farm 
to  him.  The  horses  are  only  shown  in  a  walled  pad- 
dock. They  are  good  looking  and  unquestionably 
sound,  and  they  are  galloped  round  and  round  the 
paddock  or  street  to  demonstrate  the  excellence  of 
their  wind.  The  purchaser  is  much  complimented 
upon  his  reputation  as  a  horseman,  and  the  dealer  de- 
clares that  it  is  absolutely  necessary  to  supply  so  hard 
a  rider  with  horses  which  are  not  only  perfectly  sound, 
but  also  exceptionally  strong  and  hardy  in  constitu- 
tion. The  customer  finally  buys  three  very  good- 
looking  horses,  with  great  bone  and  power  combined, 
and  plenty  of  breeding. 

It  turns  out  that  they  are  all  as  sound  as  horses 
ever  are,  but  one  is  a  terrific  puller,  with  a  one-sided 
mouth  and  a  tendency  to  swerve  at  the  fences.  Another 
is  a  confirmed  refuser,  and  the  third,  although  an  un- 
,  exceptionable  hunter,  is  an  incurable  kicker  at  both 
horses  and  hounds.  It  is  impossible  to  have  a  pleasant 
day's  hunting  with  either  of  them,  but  when  the  pur- 
chaser complains  to  the  vendor,  he  is  asked  if  his 
nerve  is  quite  as  good  as  it  used  to  be,  and  whether 
the  dealer  shall  ask  Mr.  Griswold  of  the  Rockaways, 
Mr.  George  Myers,  Mr.  E.  D.  Morgan,  or^  Elliot 
Zborowski,  or,  perhaps,  George  Work,  all  fashionable 


72  Horse  Deai^krs'  Tricks. 

men  of  the  world,  who  would  be  able  to  make  them 
g-o,  if  they  would  like  to  purchase  them.  Feeling* 
his  honor  to  be  at  stake,  the  unhappy  owner  of  the 
brutes  professes  himself  satisfied  with  them  and  en- 
dures his  misery  as  best  he  may 

Like  other  people,  horse  dealers  occasionally  make 
mistakes.  As  a  rule,  however,  dealers  are  not  very  fond 
of  female  horse  customers.  The  latter  expect  perfec- 
tion, and  fancy  they  have  been  cheated  unless  they  get 
it.  They  buy  very  readily,  but  they  want  to  return 
their  purchases  in  two  or  three  days,  and  unless  the 
dealers  will  take  them  back  and  refund  the  money 
they  tell  everybody  that  they  have  been  treated  in- 
famously. If,  on  the  contrar}'-,  the  dealer  takes  them 
back,  they  g'ive  the  horses  such  bad  characters  that 
their  future  sale  is  ruined,  or,  at  least,  materially  in- 
jured. 

When  a  lady  has  boug-ht  a  horse,  she  asks  all  her 
g-entlemen  friends  their  opinion  of  her  purchase.  Each 
finds  some  fault,  and  the  lady  comes  to  the  conclusion 
that  she  has  been  terribly  taken  in.  She  persuades  the 
friend  who  knows  the  least  about  horse  trading-  to  ne- 
g-otiate  a  retrade  with  the  dealer,  and  a  g-reat  deal  of 
trouble  follows.  At  first  the  champion  is  said  by  the 
lady  to  be  "so  very  kind"  in  the  matter.  All  she 
wants  is  to  find  a  comforta,ble  home  for  her  darling- 
pet,  and  she  hopes  that  if  you  bu}^  it  you  will  be  kind 
to  it.  It  ends  in  the  friend  purchasing-  it  often  with- 
out a  trial,  only  to  find  himself  the  possessor  of  the 
most  perfect  horse,  according-  to  its  mistress'  account, 
that  has  existed  since  the  orig-inal  pair  came  out  of 
the  Ark. 

Of  course  the  lady  v/arrants  the  animal  to  be 
sound  in  every  respect,  but  before  long-  the  accommo- 
dating- friend  discovers  otherwise.  He  grins  and  bears 
his  loss,  but  perhaps  a  chance  remark  about  the  in- 
vestment may  reach  her  ears,  and  then  she  will  say 


Horse  Deai^ers'  Tricks.  73 

that  "he  behaved  in  a  most  ung-entlemanly  manner." 
According-  to  the  seller's  account  there  must  be  very 
many  fine  horses  in  the  world.  The  past  history  of  the 
horse  about  to  be  sold  is  one  of  varied  luster;  his 
present  perfections  form  the  subject  of  a  poetical  pan- 
eg-yric,  and  his  future  prospects  are  dwelt  upon  with 
affectionate  anticipation ;  the  virtues  and  g-ood  works 
of  his  sire,  dam,  g-randdam,  brethren  and  half  brethren 
are  lovingly  narrated.  No  human  being-  ever  enjoyed 
such  an  untarnished  reputation.  Indeed,  the  accounts 
of  saleable  horses  surpass  the  lives  of  the  saints. 

There  are,  however,  horse  dealers  who  avoid  ful- 
some flattery  of  their  wares.  When  they  do  condescend 
to  speak  of  them,  they  speak  confidentially,  and  as  if 
the  admission  of  their  perfections  had  been  extorted 
unwillingly.  They  are  careful  to  point  out  disqualifi- 
cations in  horses  which  they  do  not  want  you  to  buy, 
and  when  they  come  to  the  particular  beast  they  in- 
tend you  to  purchase,  they  rather  hint  at  than  describe 
his  merits.  You  are,  however,  completely  assured  of 
their  opinion  of  the  horse  by  the  very  hig-li  price  they 
ask  for  it.  They  converse  much  about  irrevelant  topics, 
and  apparentl}^  feel  more  interest  in  showing-  you  their 
houses  than  their  horses.  When  at  last  a  move  is  re- 
luctantly made  to  the  stables  the  business  is  treated 
as  a  somewhat  unwelcome  but  unavoidable  duty.  They 
seem  to  feel  that  this  also  is  vanity,  and  leave  the 
buyer  with  the  impression  that  they  would  infinitely 
prefer  reading-  the  Bible  with  you  in  their  back  parlor. 
Yet,  somehow  or  other,  the  buyer  seldom  finds  himself 
m.uch  the  better  off  after  a  deal  with  a  sanctimonious 
horse  dealer.     Do  you  doubt  me  ?   Try  it  and  see. 


74 


PranHs  of  Englisb  Bloods. 


IN  the  early  part  of  this  century  hig-hwaymen  were 
abundant  on  all  the  roads  leading-  from  sporting- 
taverns  of  hig-h  repute  on  Long-  Island  as  well  as 
in  Eng-land.  Men  returning-  from  their  Saturday 
nig-ht  jollity  on  roads  leading-  out  from  old  Flushing- 
were  often  accompanied  by  braces  of  horse  pistols. 
So  it  was  at  Hamstead  Heath,  near  London.  The 
character  of  the  sporting  people  of  Eng-land  and  Long- 
Island  closely  resemble  one  another  to  this  day.  How 
much  we  are  alike,  any  one  familiar  with  the  charac- 
teristics of  both  can  see  at  a  g-lance,  and  how  often 
history  is  repeated.  Many  will  remember  George 
Work  last  summer  when  he  rode  his  horse  into  the 
West  End  Hotel  and  the  Howland  House  at  Long- 
Branch,  and  tried  to  jump  his  horse  over  the  tables. 
It  was  in  the  thirties  that  Mr.  Osman  Ricardo  used  to 
take  his  handiest  horses  in  London  into  a  big-  room 
and  make  them  jump  over  the  big  chairs.  Ricardo 
had  a  friend  in  the  house  up  stairs  fast  asleep,  so  he  de- 
termined to  "unearth  the  old  badg-er."  Recognizing- 
what  they  meant  by  this  expression,  Mr.  Davis  was 
out  of  bed  in  an  instant,  and  almost  before  he  could 
g-et  his  door  locked  and  a  table  and  a  chest  of  drawers 
thrust  ag-ainst  it,  he  heard  the  horse  coming-  up  stairs 
and  the  men  of  war  with  him.  A  fearful  attack  was 
made  on  the  intrenchments,  but  they  were  not  to  be 
carried.  Mr.  Davis  stood  well  to  his  guns  within,  and 
the  landlord,  whose  patience  had  been  exhausted  by  the 
horses'  ascent,  fought  like  a  Trojan  without,  and  the 
"old  badger  "lay  curled  in  the  g-arth  till  morning-,  and 
backdown  stairs  by  hook  or  by  crook  had  the  horse  to 


Pranks  q-^  Engi^ish  Bi^oods.  75 

be  broug-ht,  which  was  a  work  performed  with  much 
difficulty  and  danger.  The  Waterford  family  are  well 
known  in  America.  The  present  Lord  Charles  was  in 
a  heap  of  trouble  in  San  Francisco.  At  one  time  he 
came  ashore  from  his  ship  with  a  select  party,  climbed 
to  the  top  at  the  outside  of  the  Custom  House,  re- 
moved the  American  coat  of  arms,  and  replaced  it 
with  a  sign  of  pork  and  beans.  For  this  he  was  dis- 
ciplined, and  compelled  to  apologize  officially  for  the 
prank.  Jokes  run  in  the  marquis'  family.  The 
present  marquis'  father  was  stag  hunting  once  at 
Leicestershire,  when  the  stag  bolted  into  a  farmyard 
and  down  into  a  cellar.  The  huntsman  was  one  Tom 
Heycock.  The  marquis  kicked  the  spigot  out  of  the 
ale  barrel  found  there  and  flooded  the  place.  Riders 
out  with  the  marquis  that  and  other  days  after  had 
hard  work  to  fine  their  way  home.  The  marquis 
would  frequently  take  the  precaution  of  sawing  the 
guide  posts  and  turning  the  arms  the  wrong  way. 
One  night  the  marquis  took  a  lot  of  young  country 
dudes  out  with  him  into  a  strange  country.  They 
were  principally  young  fellows  who  were  fond  of  re- 
lating their  wonderful  performances  in  the  drawing 
room,  but  no  one  ever  saw  them  take  a  blood-curdling 
leap  while  on  the  pigskin.  The  marquis  kept  them  out 
until  moonlight ;  then,  having  arranged  to  turn  the 
sign  posts  the  wrong  way,  he  insisted  on  returning  by 
jumping  the  stiles  for  thirteen  miles  all  the  way 
home. 

The  versatility  of  the  marquis'  family  for  pure 
deviltry  was  astonishing,  and  is  to  this  day.  One  of 
the  Beresfords,  with  his  friend  Sir  Frederick  Johnson, 
tied  a  rope  around  their  horses'  necks  and  upset  a 
gipsy  encampment;  and  as  a  salve  the  next  day 
bought  a  gipsy  baby  for  ^5  and,  in  order  to  get  rid  of 
it,  stuck  it  on  a  hedge  to  shoot  at,  as  they  told  the 
mother,  till  that  nut-brown  dame  crept  up  behind  and 


76  Pranks  of  English  Bloods. 

nipped  off  witli  it.  Still  another  storj  is  a  cure  lie 
had  for  a  pulling*  horse,  which  was  to  ride  him  at  a 
hedg'e,  on  the  other  side  of  which  he  had  made  a  deep 
hole  full  of  water.  These  and  many  other  g-ood  nar- 
ratives are  often  told  at  firesides  in  Irish  and  Eng-lish 
sporting-  towns  of  the  Marquis  of  Waterford's  family^ 
It  may  be  of  interest  to  many  members  of  our  young- 
hunting-  fraternity  to  know  that  the  first  steeplechase 
was  run  off  in  Leicestershire  about  the  year  1792. 
The  distance  was  about  eig-ht  miles,  from  Barkby  Holt 
to  the  Coplow  and  back,  and  Mr.  Charles  Meynell,  son 
of  the  g-reat  M.  F.  H.,  won  it.  Lord  Forrester  second, 
and  Sir  Gilbert  Heathcote  last. 

To  any  of  our  hunting-  men  who  desire  to  make  a 
hig-h  jumper,  let  them  put  their  horses  into  a  ring, 
v/ith  successive  flig-hts  (four  or  five)  of  rails  in  it.  It 
will  bring-  their  nags'  jumping-  muscle  into  play.  A 
man  should  be  in  the  middle  of  the  ring-  to  keep 
the  animal  moving-.  It  develops  the  jumping-  muscles 
wonderfully,  and  is  far  better  than  a  sing-le  jump. 

Many  who  are  fond  of  driving  two  wheelers, 
prefer  a  Tilbury.  It  ma}^  not  be  generally  known, 
but  a  Tilbur}^  derives  its  name  from  one  Tilbury, 
a  horse  dealer  of  fame,  fashion  and  fortune.  Mr. 
Tilbury  began  life  in  a  very  humble  way,  and 
ended  it  surrounded  with  all  the  rural  joys  an 
English  sporting  man  sighs  for.  Tilbury's  g-reat 
delight  was  to  take  two  raw  things  into  a  Tilbury  or 
carryall,  turn  it  neatly  over,  and  step  out  of  it,  with- 
out the  horse  falling.  Tilbury  was  an  old-school, 
quiet-mannered  man,  replete  with  anecdotes,  some  of 
which  he  would  forget  he  had  told  before,  and  they 
became  perfect  sea  serpents.  Old  Tilbury  was  verj- 
fond  of  riding  across  country,  and  once  he  found  him- 
self in  the  middle  of  a  heavy  top-dressed  field,  sur- 
rounded by  impatient  farmers  with  pitchforks.  After 
listening  to  them  patiently,lie  replied  to  them  :  "  I  have 


Pranks  of  Engwsh  Bi^oods.  77 

heard  fourteen  boiling*  house  lectures,  and  I  shall 
now  proceed  to  hunt  my  way  out  of  this  100-acre  field 
on  purely  scientific  principles."  The  master  of  the 
Queens  County  Hunt,  hong  Island,  could  tell  a  good 
story  if  he  chose,  of  how  a  certain  belle  of  high  social 
position  and  great  beauty  wanted  to  caress  his  hunter, 
and  apologized  for  his  hunter's  rudeness  in  jumping 
away  by  saying,  ' '  He  had  never  seen  anything  so  hand- 
some before."  This  same  Long  Island  sportsman  once 
gave  the  distinction  between  light  weights  and  heavy 
ones  as  "  one  breaks  the  horses'  backs  and  the  other 
their  hearts."  At  another  time  this  same  Long  Island 
sportsman  excused  his  absence  from  several  meets  of 
the  hounds  upon  the  ground  of  "  trying  to  give  up  fox 
hunting  for  wife  hunting."  All  the  sporting  wits  are 
not  across  the  seas  by  any  means,  we  might  observe. 


Engiisb  Turf  Stories. 


A  SELECT  party  of  racing  devotees  was  seated 
around  the  circle  of  sofas  at  the  St.  James 
Hotel  a  few  nights  since.  The  St.  James  is 
the  hostelry  where  the  genial  Captain 
Conner  presided.  Some  interesting  stories  of  racing 
men  were  culled,  and  of  racing  events  across  the  water. 
One  of  the  best  stories  heard  was  one  of  Lord  Glasgow, 
a  most  eccentric  character  in  all  that  he  did,  whether 
in  dress  or  racing.  His  trousers  were  always  too 
short  for  him,  or  as  the  Irishman  would  say,  he  always 
put  his  legs  too  far  through  them.  He  wore  a  waist- 
coat too  small  for  him,  a  dark  blue  coat  with  brass 
buttons,  and  a  tall  hat.     And  so  attired  he  rode  each 


78  Engwsh  Turf  Stories, 

day  to  see  ttie  races  at  Newmarket.  Lord  Glasg-ow 
had  a  large  stud,  but  met  with  little  success  in  racing-. 
The  sires  were  indifferent,  and  the  dams  were  un- 
fashionable. This  was  enoug-h  to  account  for  the 
result.  His  g-reat  delig-ht  was  in  match  making ;  and 
he  rarely  seemed  pleased  with  winning-,  a  feat  indeed 
he  seldom  accomplished.  On  the  other  hand,  if  beat 
any  number  of  times,  he  would  match  recklessly  for 
that  day  and  to  the  end  of  the  week.  He  pointed  out 
to  Admiral  Rous,  that  an  over  nig-ht  handicap  was  un- 
fair to  him,  inasmuch  as  he  was  let  in  one  stone  too 
lig-ht,  and  he  wished  the  weig-ht  put  up.  The  matter 
was  rectified  as  he  desired,  and  the  result  proved  he 
was  not  far  wrong-,  for  the  horse  was  only  beaten  by 
a  short  head. 

One  of  the  leading-  old  turfites  present  remarked  : 
*'The  election  of  John  Hunter  as  president  of  the 
American  Jockey  Club  will  be  found,  no  doubt,  pro- 
ductive of  g-ood  fruit.  Mr.  Hunter  is  a  g-entleman 
with  a  hig-her  reg-ard  for  true  racing-  interests  and 
sportsmanlike  blood  of  the  correct  stamp,  and  with 
less  worship  of  the  g-ate  money,  than  many  other 
ruling-  spirits  in  rival  associations.  He  reminds  one  a 
g-reat  deal  of  the  men  who  raced  about  the  year  1817, 
notably  Lord  Exeter,  who  retired  in  1866.  In  the 
early  part  of  the  century,  both  here  and  across  the 
water,  nearly  all  g-entlemen  who  raced  at  all  bred 
their  own  horses." 

Scant  justice  can  be  done  to  the  merits  of  some  of 
the  stories.  One  of  a  sporting-  g-entleman  of  coaching- 
fancy  is  amusing- :  "  A  tallyho  coach  pulled  up  at  the 
inn  of  the  last  stag-e  for  chang-ing-  horses  before 
reaching-  Exeter,"  said  Mr.  L.  "Immediately  after 
starting-,  John  Hex,  the  coachman,  crept  into  the  front 
boot  of  the  coach  and  in  this  position  drove  the  horses 
throug-h  Kam  and  Alsling-ton,  causing-  a  g-reat  con- 
sternation among-  the  inhabitants,  who  thoug-ht  that 


Bngwsh  Turf  Stories.  79 

the  horses  were  running-  away  without  a  coachman. 
Tommy  Waters,  the  guard,  fancying-  something-  was 
unusual,  peeped  over  the  lug-g-ag-e  on  the  roof  and 
seeing-  the  horses  going*  at  a  pace  faster  than  common, 
and  no  driver,  quietly  got  off  behind,  and  in  so  doing 
broke  his  leg.  Just  before  entering  the  city.  Hex 
stealthily  emerged  from  his  concealment  and  assumed 
a  correct  position,  driving  up  to  the  New  London  Inn 
in  his  usual  style.  Shortly  after  a  lot  of  people  came 
driving  and  riding  up  to  learn  the  fate  of  the  coach 
and  horses,  which  they  vowed  had  no  driver  as  it 
passed  through  several  villages,  while  Hex,  for  his 
part,  as  stoutly  asserted  that  he  had  never  left  the 
coach  and  had  driven  all  the  way  without  a  passenger, 
except  two  in  the  inside,  who  were  unaware  of  the 
sportive  coachman." 

A  good  story  of  a  notable  racing  man  named 
Farrance  is  that  he  met  a  man  coming  down  the  stair- 
way of  his  own  London  house  backward  with  a  good 
feather  bed  on  his  shoulder. 

"What  have  you  got  there,  my  man?"  said  Mr. 
Farrance. 

"  A  bed  for  you,  sir,"  was  the  reply. 

"Nonsense,"  was  the  rejoinder.  "It  is  not  for 
me." 

"No.  22  Belgrave  square,  sir." 

"  Ah  !"  said  Mr.  Farrance,  "  I  thought  so.  It's 
next  door." 

And  the  man  turned  and  bore  the  bed  off  before 
the  owner's  eyes ;  for  of  course  the  trick  was  not 
discovered  until  it  was  too  late. 

The  conversation  turned  on  horse  taming  and  Mr. 
Rarey's  name  came  up.  "  Cruiser  was  the  horse  that 
made  Mr.  Rarey's  fortune,"  said  one.  "Mr.  Rarey 
made  $50,000  in  one  sum  by  disclosing  his  secret  to  a 
select  number  of  gentlemen  and  trainers  anxious  to 
add  to  their  store  of  knowledge,  and  pay  $125  for  the 


80  Kfgwsh  Turf  Stories. 

privileg-e."  In  other  words,  there  were  four  hundred 
persons  who  paid  for  the  information.  Mr.  Rarey  was 
quite  sure  he  never  could  have  got  so  many  together 
in  any  country  outside  of  America. 

Mr.  Swindell  was  a  very  remarkable  figure  in  his 
day,  and,  notwithstanding  his  name,  a  peculiarly  hon- 
est man.  His  parents  were  of  the  laboring  classes, 
and  he  had  few,  if  any,  advantages  of  education.  He 
was  at  one  time  an  engine  cleaner,  but  fortune  favored 
him  with  such  unwavering  success  that  in  a  short  time 
he  became  a  race  horse  proprietor.  What  an  awful 
name,  by  the  way,  for  anyone  owning  or  running 
horses.  Mr.  Swindell  was  requested  by  a  friend  of  his 
to  put  a  large  sum  of  money  on  a  certain  horse  for  the 
Chester  cup,  in  which  race  he  was  entered,  and  leniently 
treated  by  the  handicapper,  and  in  turf  phraseology  it 
was  thought  a  good  thing.  Mr.  Swindell  executing 
the  commission,  it  excited  his  suspicions  that  the 
horse  did  not  become  a  favorite  in  the  betting,  Swin- 
dell not  having  a  very  confiding  mind.  He  felt  sure 
there  was  an  undercurrent  at  work  which  he  could  not 
fathom.  He  expressed  his  doubts,  and  requested  his 
friend  to  go  and  see  the  trainer  at  once.  This  the 
friend  did  not  like  to  do,  but  said  :  *'If  you  will  go  I 
will  accompany  you,  but  not  else."  Swindell  had  a 
great  antipathy  to  visiting  trainers  on  the  Chester 
course.  However,  he  overcame  his  aversion  in  the  in- 
terests of  truth  and  justice,  and  went.  A  telegram 
announcing  that  they  would  like  to  see  the  horses  was 
sent  on  ahead.  After  exchanging  ordinary  civilities 
and  a  few  words  of  a  general  character  on  their  ar- 
rival, they  came  to  the  point,  and  asked  if  the  horse 
was  well.  *' Never  better,"  was  the  welcome  reply. 
After  partaking  of  some  refreshment,  doubly  accept- 
able after  such  a  long  journey,  no  time  was  lost  in 
carrying  out  the  object  to  see  this  particular  horse. 
He  looked  in  blooming  condition,  as  "fit"  as  anyone 


English  Turf  Stories.  81 

could  wish  to  see  him,  but  they  were  told,  as  he  had 
done  his  work  before  the  receipt  of  the  teleg-ram,  he 
could  not  go  out  again.  He  stood,  as  is  customary  m 
many  stables,  in  a  set  of  woolen  bandages.  When 
they  requested  that  these  might  be  removed  they  were 
assured  by  the  trainer  it  was  quite  unnecessary  and 
contrary  to  his  practice,  and,  for  fear  of  upsetting  the 
horse,  he  begged  they  would  not  think  of  doing  any- 
thing so  unwise.  Mr.  Swindell,  however,  said  the 
owner  would  not  rest  content  unless  he  saw  at  least 
the  bandages  taken  off  his  forelegs,  and  he  peremp- 
torily requested  this  to  be  done  at  once,  when  the 
mystery  was  solved.  The  trainer  had  then  to  relate 
that  the  horse  had  met  with  a  severe  accident  while  at 
exercise,  and  nearly  severed  the  main  tendons  by  com- 
ing in  contact  with  some  sharp  cutting  instrument, 
which  of  course  rendered  him  useless  for  the  season, 
if  he  ever  would  be  fit  to  race  again.  He,  however, 
said  by  way  of  explanation,  that  he  thought  little  of 
it  and  hoped  it  soon  would  be  well ;  but  in  reply  to 
further  inquiries,  he  could  give  no  satisfactory  reason 
why  the  horse  had  gone  back  in  the  market  after  all 
the  money  they  had  backed  him  for.  The  horse  never 
ran,  it  is  needless  to  say,  and  with  the  rest  of  the 
owner's  horses  was  at  once  removed  and  placed  under 
the  charge  of  a  better  man.  The  cause  of  his  with- 
drawal from  the  Chester  cup  was  explained,  but  dis- 
credited, and  attributed  to  the  dishonest  motives  of 
the  owner  and  his  friends,  on  whose  shoulders  the 
blame  rested,  while  the  real  miscreants  escaped  with 

impunity.  .  i  .    . 

Mr.  Swindell  always  dined  regularly  and  his  ban- 
queting hall  was  equal  to  that  of  royalty.  He  would 
often,  when  dining,  have  calls  from  "touts";  some- 
times before  he  had  finished,  two  or  three  would  call  on 
him.  He  would  get  up  and  go  out  to  them  with  the 
same  alacrity  as  he  would  to  a  lord  or  a  duke.     To  all 


82  Engwsh  Turf  Stories. 

he  listened  eagerly,  thoug-li  it  is  not  to  be  presumed 
he  often  or  ever  acted  upon  information  from  such 
sources.  He  was  far  too  clever  for  that,  but  used  to 
say  he  *' liked  to  hear  what  the  vag-abonds  had  to  say 
and  that  the  amusement  was  worth  paying-  for."  His 
investments  in  the  Burton  Brewing*  Company,  at 
Burton-on-Trent,  gave  him  much  anxiety  at  one  time, 
as  his  capital  in  it  appeared  g"one,  and  the  speculation 
a  failure.  His  friends,  Messrs.  Parker,  Dale  and 
Suerving-,  all  lost  confidence,  and  sold  out  at  a  g-reat 
sacrifice.  But  here  his  common  sense — of  which  he 
was  always  proud,  if  he  thought  highly  of  any  of  his 
capabilities — did  him  good,  service,  aided  by  his  shrewd 
and  businesslike  habits  and  his  indefatigable  energy. 
He  thought  he  saw  his  way  clear  to  advance  still  more 
money,  but  refused  to  do  so  unless  he  was  made  a  di- 
rector, and  then  he  added  a  last  sum  of  ;£"20,000.  In 
this  new  capacity  he  soon  found  scope  for  his  ability, 
and  detected  the  leakage  and  remedied  it  by  the  re- 
moval of  the  head  brewer  and  cooper.  After  this  bold 
stroke  in  the  right  direction  things  soon  worked  better. 
His  next  move  was  to  hire  a  lot  of  men,  both  in  town 
and  country,  to  call  at  public  houses  and  hotels  which 
the  brewery  did  not  serve,  to  ask  for  its  special  brew, 
whether  in  beer,  ale  or  stout.  On  being  told  it  was 
not  kept,  they  would  express  their  surprise  and  declare 
they  could  get  it  just  above,  or  just  below,  or  round 
the  corner,  and  would  leave  for  the  apparent  purpose 
of  obtaining  it.  This  ing-enious  way  of  getting  cus- 
tomers may  not  have  been  novel,  but  it  was  a  legiti- 
mate way  of  obtaining  trade,  and  increasing  it.  With 
the  further  help  of  good  management  he  raised  the 
value  of  the  shares  in  the  company  so  that  Mr.  Swin- 
dell's investment  in  it  of  ;£"70,000  became  a  valuable 
property.  This  is  a  true  statement  and  is  vouched  for 
from  one  who  heard  it  from  his  own  lips. 


83 


Clul>5  ^P<I  Club  L-ife, 


DURING  the  last  ten  or  twenty  years  there  has 
been  a  great  revolution  g-radually  taking-  place 
in  the  constitution  of  American  society  which 
is  not  an  unimportant  part  of  the  nineteenth 
century. 

Like  our  Knglish  brethren,  we  have  been  wont 
to  pride  ourselves  upon  the  strength  of  our  domestic 
affections,  upon  our  more  solid  characteristics  and 
upon  the  attractions  of  our  fireside.  We  like  to  wrap 
ourselves  in  our  superior  virtue  and  cong-ratulate  our- 
selves on  our  superiority  to  our  neighbor.  We  still 
vaunt  ourselves  upon  the  superior  sanctity  of  our 
American  home,  and  sneer  at  the  freedom  of  the 
foreigners  who  fill  our  cities  and  attempt  the  intro- 
duction of  their  unholy  foreign  customs. 

We  claim  the  foreigner  is  ignorant  of  the  fasci- 
nations of  a  pure,  bright  and  cultivated  home  life ; 
is  one  who  prefers  the  gossip  of  Delmonico's  cafe  to 
the  charm  of  a  home  circle.  Here,  in  our  delightful 
American  home,  he  would  find  that  the  word  "home," 
that  word  for  which  he  would  find  in  his  language  no 
equivalent,  taking  the  place  of  external  dissipation, 
and  the  household  gods,  so  warmly  worshipped  that 
it  would  be  deemed  iconoclasm  of  the  most  ruthless 
character  to  depose  them  from  the  pinnacles  upon 
which  they  are  set.  Ah  !  happy  America!  where  your 
houses  are  so  well  built  that  your  citizens  are  never 
tempted  to  leave  them,  where  thoughtful  servants 
give  a  dignity  to  your  every  order ,  where  your  young 


84  Cl<UBS  AND  Cl,UB  IvIF^. 

women  are  so  prudently  reared  that  so  perfect  a  house 
discipline  inevitably  follows  in  the  wake  of  a  marriag-e  ; 
where  your  young  men,  unselfish  and  industrious,  are 
content  to  beg-in  as  their  fathers  before  them  beg-an, 
and  to  wait  until  success  has  crowned  them  before 
exchang-ing-  a  severe  economy  for  a  g-rateful  extrava- 
gance; and  where  all  is  nobleness  of  purpose,  improve- 
ment of  mind  and  modesty  of  conduct.  Ah  !  happy 
United  States  !  Thrice  happy  country  !  What  need  of 
Utopia  so  long  as  she  exists  ?  I  fear,  though,  there  is 
something  unsound  in  this  pceon  of  self  praise.  Let 
us  look  inwardly  and  see  if  we  are  so  different  from 
our  neighbors.  A  little  national  introspection  Avill 
solve  the  difficulty.  Boast  as  we  may  of  our  superiority 
to  London,  Paris,  Vienna  or  St.  Petersburg,  do  our 
fair  countrj^women  reveal  in  their  European  tours  any 
abhorrence  of  titular  inebriety  ?  Are  not  secrecy  and 
modern  honor  synonymous  terms  ?  Do  what  you 
like,  but  be  not  found  out ;  but  we  must  conceal  every- 
thing that  our  neighbors  expose.  We  may  be  more 
discreet ;  but  is  discretion  morality  ?  Vaunting  as 
much  as  we  do  our  home  life,  are  there  not  strong 
indications  that  our  home  life  is  fast  losing  its  hold 
upon  us  ?  Great  wealth  has  rapidly  removed  all  social 
barriers.  Have  we  not  been  reduced  to  an  unenviable 
social  position  ?     As  Wordsworth  says  : 

"  No  g-randeur  now  in  nature  or  in  book 
Delights  us.     Rapine,  avarice,  expense — 
This  is  idolatry  ;  and  these  we  adore. 
Plain  living-  and  high  thinking  are  no  more." 

Has  not  the  modern  club  tended  to  invite  us  to 
enter  upon  a  new  phase  of  existence  ?  Twenty  years 
ago  it  was  the  exception  for  a  man  to  belong  to  a  club. 
The  fact  of  club  membership  then  implied  a  higher 
social  distinction  upon  the  part  of  an  individual.  The 
New  York,  Manhattan,  the  Union,  constituted  the 
places  on  Fifth  avenue  that  clubland  was  palaced  in. 


Ci,UBS  AND  CI.UB  Life:.  :85 

A  man  unknown  to  the  committee  would  have  been 
sure  to  be  black-balled.  The  Manhattan  would  not 
have  thought  of  admitting-  a  member  of  any  other 
political  party  than  the  Democracy.  The  Union  would 
have  insisted  upon  a  man  being-  out  of  trade,  or  only 
remotely  connected  with  it.  And  the  New  York  had 
its  own  crucible,  mysterious  to  all  but  the  initiated. 
A  club  in  those  days  consisted  of  its  own  exclusive 
circle.  Men  only  visited  it ;  they  never  thought  of 
living-  in  it.  But  now,  with  the  spread  of  education, 
the  wealth  of  the  country,  and  the  generally  easy  con- 
dition of  the  community,  a  great  change  has  taken 
place  upon  Fifth  avenue.  But  the  demand  for  entrance 
to  all  our  first  class  clubs  far  exceeds  the  supply.  The 
books  are  crowded  with  names,  and  in  some  clubs 
years  have  to  go  by  before  a  candidate  can  stand  his 
chance  of  election. 

Particularly  is  this  the  case  at  the  Union,  where 
names  have  been  on  the  books  of  the  club  for 
six  or  eight  years  or  more.  At  the  Manhattan,  at  the 
Knickerbocker,  members  have  been  kept  waiting  for  a 
very  long  period  without  action.  At  the  University, 
where  the  classical  Columbia  and  the  mathematical 
Yale  apply,  there  are  long  waits  between  the  acts  of 
application  and  entrance. 

The  distinguished  savant,  doctor  or  literary  man 
finds  the  same  trouble  at  the  Century.  There  are 
numbers  of  other  clubs  where  the  subscriptions  are 
lower  and  where  membership  rights  can  be  claimed 
without  delay.  Since  the  election  of  the  Democratic 
State  ticket  the  Union  League  will  hurry  up  all  the 
members  on  the  list. 

If  this  general  application  for  membership  con- 
tinues in  the  majority  of  clubs,  the  current  of  our 
home  life  will  be  disturbed.  If  those  gentlemen  who 
are  not  members  of  fashionable  clubs  fancy  that  it  ^is 
necessary  to  be  a  buck  or  a  swell,  or  that  it  is  an  indis- 


8$  Cl,UBS  AND  Cl,UB  I^IFE. 

pensable  adjunct  to  be  a  man  of  fashion,  the  rude 
notion  would  soon  be  dispelled  by  becoming-  a  member. 
The  ancient  idea  that  a  man  had  to  be  a  connoisseur 
of  fashion  or  have  a  knowledg-e  of  French  or  old  fiddles 
to  be  elig"ible  has  long-  ag-o  been  dispelled. 

It  is  far  less  expensive  to  belong-  to  a  club  than  to 
be  in  society.  Clubs  are  really  only  useful  to  men 
having-  cheerless  lodging's,  with  an  absence  of  comfort, 
but  clubs  are  very  detrimental  in  the  particular  that 
too  much  comfort  for  a  very  slig-ht  expenditure  of 
money  is  possible.  Celibacy  is  pleasurable,  and  mar- 
riage is  not  the  haven  for  which  the  sing-le  man  now 
steers  his  bark.  Sing-le  men  had  better  keep  away 
from  clubs.  Hundreds  of  sing-le  young-  men  reg-ret 
later  on  in  life  that  they  ever  enjoyed  the  possibility 
of  club  life  for  the  comforts  they  could  g-et  on  this 
account. 

There  are  few  bridegrooms  made  after  thirty  out 
of  club  men.  And  this  fact  should  not  be  forgotten 
by  the  social  historian. 

The  enormous  fortunes  made  out  of  real  estate 
have  tended  to  make  those  men  in  clubs  only  soug-ht 
after  by  many  who  are  of  the  acreocracy.  This  for- 
mation of  a  plutocracy  among-  an  aristocracy  is  very 
offensive  to  many  men,  who  will  not  stoop  to  "  crook 
the  preg-nant  hinges  of  the  knee  "  for  "the  thrift  that 
follow  fawning."  This  fawning  is  another  intensely 
disagreeable  feature  of  club  life  in  the  New  York  of 
to-day. 

Money  easily  made  is  lavishly  spent.  This  has  a 
tendency  to  vulgarize  our  clubs,  and  is  developing  a 
tendency  to  expenditure  that  did  not  formerly  exist. 
Another  abhorrent  feature  of  club  life  is  the  superior 
rank  wealth  enjoys  to  the  social  force  formerly 
possessed  by  a  high  intellect.  Swell  dinners,  horses, 
houses,  carriages  are  not  so  much  possessed  for  the 
sake  of  enjoyment  as  for  the  pride  of  luxurious  exhi- 


Ci;UBS  AND  Cl,UB  I^IFE.  87 

bition.  The  plethora  of  wealth  is  nowhere  more 
apparent  than  in  clubs,  and  has  created  through  them 
a  fictitious  and  artificial  taste. 

Notwithstanding-  the  enormous  and  tastefully 
elaborate  menu  of  the  Union  and  Manhattan  clubs, 
for  instance,  there  are  sybaritic  members  constantly, 
althoug-h  in  violation  of  the  rules,  demanding-  of  the 
steward  that  new  and  costly  dishes  shall  be  procured 
and  served  at  reg-ular  meals.  This  is  only  one  of  many 
conspicuous  instances  of  the  condition  the  epicurean 
club  man  has  reached.  The  fact  is,  clubs  serve  too 
much  for  too  little  money,  and  the  large  population  of 
idlers  are  demanding-  an  increasing  luxury  all  around. 
Old  clubs  should  become  more  limited  and  less  expan- 
sive, should  not  extend  their  territory  and  not  offer 
their  hospitality  upon  the  slighest  claim  to  that  some- 
what elastic  title  of  "gentleman  "  alone.  A  man  may 
belong  to  a  club  and  not  buy  a  sheet  of  paper  in  the 
course  of  a  year  ;  all  stationery  is  provided.  Books, 
magazines,  libraries,  newspapers,  weekly  reviews  are 
all  there.  Cultivated  epicureanism  can  have  its 
cravings  satisfied  for  less  money  at  New  York  club 
houses  than  anywhere  in  the  world. 


88 


Tbey  Ride  to  Houn<Is. 


THE  beauty  of  the  Meadowbrook  Club  house  at 
nig-ht  after  a  day  of  riding-  to  hounds,  is  admit- 
ted by  lucky  frequenters.  Balls  are  often  g-iven, 
and  all  the  famous  society  g-irls  are  there.  At 
a  recent  impromptu  dance  much  discussion  was  elicited 
as  to  the  comparative  beauty  of  a  cotillion  composed 
of  Adele  Grant,  May  Brady,  Marion  Story,  Mamie 
Winslow,  Reg-ina  Rives,  Mollie  Warner  and  Bessie 
Big-elow.  These  girls  are  all  presentable  fig-ures  upon 
the  hig-h  roads  as  equestrienes,  but  are  not  all  experts 
across  the  severe  country  of  the  Meadowbrook  drag's 
line.  At  this  season  of  the  year  all  our  sport-loving 
cousins  across  the  water  are  hard  at  it  with  horses 
and  hounds.  Mr.  James  Gordon  Bennett's  house  at 
Melton-Mowbray,  in  Leicestershire,  is  filled  with 
American  and  English  friends  he  brings  up  from 
London.  Mr.  Bennett's  stables  contain  from  thirty 
to  forty  hunters,  the  pick  and  cream  of  Irish  and 
English  fairs.  The  immaculate  condition  of  the  coats, 
breeches  and  boots  of  Meltonians  is  proverbial.  Our 
Essex,  Queens,  Media,  Country  and  Rose  Tree  hunts 
are  indeed  feeble  imitations  of  what  a  Melton  country 
can  show  with  the  Quorn  hounds  at  this  season  of 
the  3^ear. 

Considering  the  immense  difficulties  native  hunt 
clubs  have  to  contend  against,  principally  the  unpop- 
ularity of  the  sport  with  the  farmers,  our  hunting  set 
show  great  persistence  and  deserve  warm  praise.  The 
men  who  hunt  regularly  with  the  aforementioned 
packs  compare  in  their  riding  very  favorably  with 
their  brethren  across    the    water.      And   the   coun- 


They  Ride  to  Hounds.  89 

try  the  Americans  hunt  over  is  quite  as  difficult  a  one 
as  any  English  district.  The  frequency  of  the  post 
and  rails  of  four  feet  nine  inches  would  very  soon  dis- 
g-ust  English  horses,  and  the  best  imported  English 
hunters  have  not  compared  favorably  with  our  native 
breed.  Irish  horses  have  taken  more  kindly  to  the 
sport  than  the  English  importations,  from  their  more 
ready  adaptability  to  the  peculiarities  of  our  farm 
lands. 

Our  acres  without  fencing  are  not  many,  and  so  it 
is  in  Ireland.  Mr.  Griswold,  Mr.  Work,  Mr.  Cheever, 
Zborowski  and  others  will  bear  testimony  to  the  truth 
of  these  facts. 

Mr.  Frank  Griswold  is  confessedly  the  first  man 
across  our  country,  and  when  hunting  in  Leicester- 
shire ranked  highly  there.  Mr.  Zborowski  stood  among 
the  first  in  Ireland,  where  he  hunted  for  several  sea- 
sons, and  Mr.  Bennett's  riding  was  formerly  frequently 
applauded  in  Leicestershire.  Mr.  Cheever,  around  his 
native  heath  at  Rockaway,  draws  admiring  multitudes 
whenever  he  gets  on  to  the  pigskin,  whether  it  is  for 
hunting  or  for  a  contest  between  the  flags.  Mr. 
Griswold  Lorillard  and  Pierre  Lorillard,  Jr.,  are  ever 
among  the  first  flight,  no  matter  how  stiff  the  pace 
or  difficult  the  jumps  to  negotiate.  Indeed,  it  would 
be  difficult  to  excel  the  artistic  cross  country  work  of 
the  brothers  Lorillard  any  where  in  the  world  ;  they 
are  handsome  and  fascinating  youths  full  of  manly 
beauty  and  courage. 

Mr.  E.  D.  Morgan,  Jr.,  Mr.  Winnie  Rutherford, 
S.  S.  Sands,  Jr.,  Mr.  Lanier  and  the  La  Montagues 
are  seldom  far  away  at  the  death  of  Reynard.  Mr. 
Harwood,  of  Baltimore,  who  hunts  here  frequently, 
is  a  good  specimen  between  the  flags,  or  at  the  fastest 
pace  of  a  hunt.  Getting  across  country  has  done  more 
in  ten  years  to  improve  our  men  in  riding  than  the 
haut-ecole  had  in  the  ninety  years  before  the  estab- 


90  They  Ride  to  Hounds. 

lishment  of  fox  hunting*  in  the  country  adjacent  to 
New  York. 

During"  our  civil  war  the  superiority  of  the  cavalry 
of  the  South  compared  to  the  North  was  everywhere 
apparent.  In  the  Southern  states  fox  hunting  was 
almost  as  much  a  pursuit  as  it  was  in  Kng-land.  The 
Northern  cavalry  were,  from  of&cers  down,  noticeably 
in  the  volunteer  corps,  the  laughing"  stock  of  the 
Southern  people. 

The  riders  of  France,  where  hunting  does  not  to 
an  appreciable  quantity  exist,  are  a  source  of  mirth,  to 
English  experts. 

Not  so  that  of  Germany,  where  boar  and  stag 
hunting  abound.  And  in  all  those  lands  where  men 
and  horses  are  accustomed  to  the  hazards  of  getting 
across  a  severe  country,  the  improvement  in  form  of 
the  mounted  soldier  and  his  beast  is  observable  to 
any  unprejudiced  witness  of  even  the  most  casual 
kind.  In  Leicestershire,  I  remember  seeing  a 
whole  fleet  balked  at  Bittesdon  Brook,  in  a  place 
where  it  ran  to  a  regular  ravine.  The  bank  had  rather 
curved  in,  and  it  took  thirty-four  feet  to  clear  it,  and 
it  had  a  plashed  hedge  on  the  opposite  side.  Time  and 
time  again  did  Mr.  James  Gordon  Bennett  and  his 
friend  Captain  Candy  face  it ;  but  their  horses  obstin- 
ately refused.  Captain  Middleton  came  to  it  with  a 
rush  and  cleared  it.  He  had  nursed  his  horse.  He 
knew  what  was  before  him,  and  then,  rushing  through 
the  crowd  like  a  bullet,  he  went  at  it,  determined  to  do 
something  tremendous.  Lord  Aylesford  followed,  but 
he  and  his  horse  had  to  splash  out  of  it.  No  one  had 
ever  been  known  to  clear  it  before  but  King  of  the 
Valley  in  a  steeplechase,  and  the  measurement  from 
hind  foot  to  hind  foot  was  thirty-six  feet.  When  the 
American  contingent  are  hunting  in  Leicestershire 
they  do  their  country  credit ;  they  believe  that  when 
in  Rome  do  as  the  Romans  do.   Harden  your  hearts  and 


They  Ride  to  Hounds. 


91 


tighten  your  girths  is  the  motto.  A  man  who  loses  his 
hat  in  a  plung-e  at  a  brook  never  attempts  to  recover 
it,  but  hunts  on  to  the  close  bareheaded.  Lord  Alvan- 
ley  never  had  a  hat  which  would  stay  on  his  head,  and 
was  always  found  at  the  finish  bareheaded  and  piebald 
in  color  from  the  mud. 

Leicestershire  is  a  country  with  superb  grass 
lands  and  fields  of  from  eight  to  fifteen  acres  without 
obstacles.  The  pace  is  a  hot  one  and  takes  a  thor- 
oughbred to  keep  in  front.  Men  and  horses  go  away 
there  like  pigeons  in  a  flight,  and  even  many  of  the 
best  men  and  horses  melt  away  like  snow  in  summer. 
It  is  not  an  unusual  thing  to  fish  men  out  of  brooks  with 
the  lash  of  a  hunting  whip;  very  often  half  way  across 
the  brook  horses  sink  like  a  stone  and  are  drowned. 
The  one  thought  of  men  of  fashion  in  the  Leicester- 
shire country  is  hunting;  the  whole  county  appears 
given  over  to  it.  Sundays  are  the  only  days  held  sa- 
cred, and  to  its  credit  may  be  said  the  sounds  of  the 
church  bells  floating  into  the  homes  on  Sabbath 
mornings  never  strike  on  the  ear  in  vain. 


BAD   HANDS, 


Fsilconry  117  Epgl^od- 


ALTHOUGH  there  does  not  apparently  exist 
any  great  revival  of  the  sport  of  falconry 
there  have  been  various  efforts  recently  made 
to  popularize  it  in  England. 

There  was  a  time  when  it  was  extremely  popular, 
and  upon  the  treasury  lists  of  Great  Britain  there  are 
several  sinecurists  drawing  heavy  salaries  in  con- 
nection with  this  now  obsolete  pastime. 

Falconry  is  the  pursuit  of  birds  and  also  of  small 
quadrupeds  by  trained  hawks.  The  heron  is  the  prin- 
cipal bird  the  sport  affects.  These  birds  are  only  oc- 
casionally met  with  in  the  fens.  In  the  winter  the 
herons  are  shy  and  solitary,  and  are  found  in  the  fens 
by  themselves  ;  but  in  the  spring  they  congregate  in 
some  high  wood.  The  heron  resembles  the  rook  or 
crow,  and  their  nests  and  habits  are  similar.  ^  They 
are  curious  and  weird  objects  standing  alone  in  the 
v\rater,  with  their  heads  bent  back  to  their  shoulders, 
seeking  the  fish,  reptiles  and  mice,  which,  when  dis- 
covered, they  seize  with  the  quickness  of  lightning 
and  the  unerring  aim  of  a  Creedmoor  expert. 

Several  efforts  to  revive  the  sport  have  been  un- 
successfully made  at  various  times  of  late  with  poor 
success.  In  olden  times  kites,  partridges,  pheasants, 
larks,  pigeons,  sparrows,  and  even  rabbits,  have  been 
flown  at.  The  Maharajah  Dhuleep  Sugh  of  India 
kept  his  private  falconer  in  England  recently,  but  was 
unsuccessful  in  attracting  general  attention,  for  few 
sportsmen  of  the  present  rapid  age,  have  the  patience 
to  persevere  to  become  expert  falconers.  Some  few 
people,  who  cling  to  the  antiquity  of  their  residences, 
retain  heronries  as  proofs.     But  they  are  for  the  most 


Fai,conry  in  Engi^and.  93 

part  entirely  out  of  the  reach  of  nearly  all  of  her 
Majesty's  sporting-  subjects. 

But  years  ago  there  were  no  men  more  revered 
and  ennobled  than  expert  falconers. 

The  g-yrfalcon  is  most  highly  prized  for  the  sport; 
he  is  very  long-  winded  and  the  largest  species.  In 
the  olden  da3^s  of  falconry  the  gyrfalcon  of  Iceland 
was  highly  prized  as  the  most  rapid  of  flight  and 
more  courageous  than  the  British  or  Norway  species. 
The  length  of  this  bird  was  about  twenty-three  inches, 
with  horn  and  yellow  colored  beak.  There  are  various 
species  of  falcon — slow  flyers,  quick  dashers  and  long 
and  short  distance  birds,  according  to  the  prey  de- 
signed. The  kestrel,  the  goshav/k  and  the  sparrow 
hawk,  also  the  kite,  buzzard  and  harrier,  are  some  of 
these.  The  hood,  which  is  used  to  break  the  hawk  to 
hand  and  to  produce  temporary  blindness,  is  made  of 
stiff  leather,  blocked  upon  a  wooden  model  of  its  in- 
tended shape,  so  as  to  sit  stiffly  but  firmly  on  the 
hawk's  head.  A  curious  combination  of  leash  is  fas- 
tened around  the  hawk  and  extends  to  the  hand  of  the 
falconer,  who  can  instantly  set  the  bird  free.  The 
lure  is  used  to  entice  the  hawk  back  to  the  falconer, 
either  after  an  unsuccessful  flight  or  when  the  game 
is  struck  and  is  to  be  saved  from  the  talons  of  the  de- 
vourer.  The  lure  is  composed  of  a  mass  of  feathers  of 
brilliant  hue  attached  to  a  long  corded  string  with 
tassel  at  the  end. 

Hawking  gloves  were  used  with  handsomely  or- 
namented gauntlets  over  the  wrist,  each  falconer 
adopting  some  poetical  fancy  of  his  own.  Hawks  are 
either  taken  from  the  nests,  trained  as  young  birds, 
or  trapped  at  a  later  period.  By  the  former  mode 
they  are  more  tractable,  but  less  fearless  and  less  bold 
and  strong.  Hawktaming  is  easy,  but  the  chief  diffi- 
culty in  falconry  is  teaching  them  to  fly  at  game. 
Spinges  of  horsehair  or  bird  lime  are  the  means  usually 


94  Fai^conry  in  England. 

soug-ht  to  trap  the  hawk,  and  active  men  and  boys  in 
neighboring-  trees  are  essential. 

Hawks  are  wonderfully  intelligent  when  trained, 
and  will  take  medicine  to  condition  them  as  well  as 
the  most  intelligent  horse  or  dog,  and  will  learn  to 
know  their  names  and  will  come  at  its  call  from  out  a 
congregation.  Rewards  of  meat  will  placate  the  most 
unruly  hawk,  who  will  tamely  then  submit  to  hood, 
jesses  and  bells.  A  well  trained  peregine  (eyesses) 
costs  about  $7. 

Colonel  Wilson  of  Didlington,  in  Norfolk,  has  the 
most  perfect  heronry  probably  existing  to-day.  A 
heronry  is  best  situated  on  a  river  with  open  country 
on  each  side  of  it.  The  herons  go  out  in  the  morning 
to  rivers  and  ponds  at  considerable  distances  in  search 
of  food,  and  return  early  in  the  evening.  It  is  at  this 
time  that  the  falconers  place  themselves  in  the  open 
country  "down  wind  "of  the  heronry,  so  that  when 
the  herons  are  intercepted  on  their  return  home  they 
are  obliged  to  fly  against  the  wind  to  gain  their  place 
of  retreat. 


95 


Across  Hill  ao<I  Vzile. 


IT  would  be  difficult  to  find  any  sport  in  existence 
to-day  calling-  for  g-reater  nerve  in  man  than 
steeplechasing-,  especially  on  a  course  where  the 
jumps  are  hig-h,  different  in  description  and  difficult  to 
neg"otiate,  but  the  pleasure  seems  to  be  fully  equal  to 
the  danger,  for  expert  cross  country  riders  agree  there 
are  few  delights  equal  to  facing  a  broad  sweep  of 
water,  where  the  mount  is  galloping  strong  under 
you,  and  with  firm  thud,  nor  the  slightest  wave  to 
palsy  nerve.  The  expert  horseman  instinctively  knows 
the  meaning  of  the  firm  gallop  and  strong  hard  tug 
at  the  bit ;  it  imparts  reliance  to  the  rider,  and  says 
in  thunder  tones  :  "  No  bolting  here."  It  is  then  the 
horseman  feels  his  keenest  joy  and  believes  his^  win- 
ning chances  are  good.  When  the  water  jump  is  say 
thirty  feet  from  take  off  to  landing,  it  is  from  its  size 
the  most  picturesque  and  thrilling,  besides  being  the 
most  difficult.  To  describe  the  exquisite  sensation 
that  a  steeplechase  rider,  a  hunting  man  or  woman 
feels  when  sailing  high  in  air  over  water,  with  the 
assurance  that  they  possess  the  requisite  equine  met- 
tle under  them,  is,  in  fact,  beyond  the  power  of  any 
pen  to  describe,  so  exquisite  is  an  enthusiast's  feeling, 
if  the  diction  of  hunting  and  racing  writers  are 
worthy  of  credence. 

For  the  purpose  of  encouraging  the  breed  of  cav- 
alry horses  and  hunters,  some  fifty  odd  years  ago 
steeplechasing  was  brought  into  notice;  and  certainly 
three  and  four  mile  races  under  high  weights  would 
establish  a  market,  if  anything  would,  for  horses 
capable  of  great  exertion,  and  the  general  breed  of 


%  Across  H11.1.  and  Vale. 

such  horses  would  be  improved.  Aylesbury,  St.  Al- 
bans and  other  places  in  Kng-land  were  then  the  spots 
where  the  orig-inal  creation  of  steeplechasing-  beg-an. 
A  natural  country  was  selected,  with  a  church  steeple 
in  view,  some  four  miles  distant  as  the  crow  flies, 
with  little  opportunity  to  take  any  part  of  the  run 
along-  a  road,  each  man  being-  permitted  to  take  a  line 
of  country  of  his  own  ;  it  was  therefore  almost  impos- 
sible to  witness  the  whole  steeplechase  excepting-  to 
g-o  across  country  yourself.  The  fences  were  very 
liig-h  and  almost  impracticable.  Yet  there  were  not 
many  cases  of  serious  disaster  to  either  horse  or  rider; 
hence  the  sport  became  popular,  and  a  circular  course 
was  chosen  to  admit  of  many  spectators  seeing  the 
hunt  without  trouble  or  risk  by  placing"  themselves  on 
a  surrounding-  eminence  or  by  taking-  advantag-e  of  a 
race-stand. 

For  man}^  years,  at  the  beg-inning"  of  steeplechas- 
ing-, Mr.  Elmore's  Lottery  and  Gaylad  swept  every- 
thing- before  them,  although  carrying  fourteen  and 
eighteen  pounds  overweight  as  penalty,  as  high  then 
as  188  pounds  being  carried.  Although  frequently  good 
hunters  make  good  steeplechasers  a  good  steeple- 
chaser rarely  makes  a  good  hunter,  the  principal 
objection  to  steeplechasers  for  hunting  being  their 
non-adaptability  to  take  their  jumps  in  a  slow,  cool- 
headed,  methodical  manner,  without  a  tendency  to 
rush  their  fences,  as  quiet  going  is  constantly  de- 
manded in  hunting  ;  where,  for  instance,  a  "  check  " 
or  "double,"  or  any  of  the  frequent  and  sudden 
reversals  of  the  hounds  occasioned  by  scent.  One 
chief  reason  why  high,  stiff  fences  should  abound  upon 
good  courses  is  that  it  is  desirable  to  encourage  breed- 
ers to  improve  their  stock  by  breeding  a  superior  class 
of  animal,  and  prevents  honse  breeders  and  trainers 
putting  in  weedy,  worn  out,  flat  running  stock,  as  is 
frequently  seen  in  hurdle  racing,  for  the  height  of  the 


Across  Hili.  and  Vale.  97 

fences  in  this  class  of  races  encourages  not  only  a 
poor  class  of  horses,  but  paves  the  way  to  an  undesir- 
able quantity  and  quality  of  frauds.  Indeed,  it  may 
be  said,  the  smaller  the  fences  the  more  broken  backs, 
for  the  reason  that  the  simplicity  of  the  course  en- 
ables these  weedy  animals  to  g-allop  carelessly,  and 
when  in  an  exhausted  condition  stick  their  leg-s  into 
the  hurdle,  and  tired  muscular  fibres  do  not  enable 
them  to  obtain  a  quick  recovery. 

Althoug-h  the  hunting-  clubs  in  the  South  and 
North,  but  more  particularly  North,  have  drag  hunts 
after  the  now  notorious  aniseed,  which  is  not  legiti- 
mate hunting,  still  it  should  develop  among  the  hunt 
horses  a  number  of  good  steeplechasers,  and  it  is  sur- 
prising Mr.  Zborowski,  Mr.  Frank  Griswold  and  the 
younger  Belmonts  have  not  been  enabled  to  cull  a  few 
of  the  flowers  of  the  hunt  for  the  American  course ; 
for  the  life  of  the  drag  is  frequently  a  "  cracker,"  and 
the  staying  power  of  a  hunter  is  gauged  to  a  pound. 
And  as  was  once  said  of  a  famous  horse  dealer  in 
England,  who  was  one  of  the  few  from  whom  a  good 
horse  could  be  leased  for  hunting,  "I  hate  to  rent  a 
hunter  for  drags,  as  you  can  usually  draw  thorns 
enough  out  of  their  knees  to  make  a  crow's  nest." 
That  good  hunters  should  and  do  make  good  steeple- 
chasers, fit  to  circle  any  steeplechase  course,  is  seen 
daily  in  Kngland  during  the  racing  season.  The  fol- 
lowing description  of  a  hunt  near  Ugbrook  Park, 
England,  is  interesting  as  showing  the  severe  work 
hunters  are  called  upon  to  perform. 

"Seeing  a  flight  of  rails  close  to  the  river  bank, 
and  concluding  that  they  were  placed  there  to  pre- 
vent cattle  from  crossing  the  ford,  T.  rode  his  horse 
straight  at  them,  thinking  to  land  him  perhaps  up  to 
his  girths  on  dropping  into  the  stream.  But,  alas  ! 
the  spot  proved  to  be  one  of  the  deepest  pools  in  the 
Tyne  River.     The  horse  and  rider   disappeared,  but 


98  Over  Hii<iy  and  Vai^e;. 

the  latter,  having-  been  an  expert  sv^rimmer  at  Eton, 
soon  came  to  the  surface,  and  striking  out  vigorously 
gained  the  opposite  bank  in  safety.  But  now  great 
Avas  his  dismay  on  looking  around  to  find  that  the 
horse  was  nowhere  to  be  seen.  Not  a  wave  nor  a 
gurgle  indicated  his  whereabouts  below,  and  for  some 
seconds  T.  felt  assured  the  horse  had  been  stunned, 
and  had  gone  to  the  bottom  like  a  stone.  Happily  he 
w^as  wrong,  as  the  hoofs  first  and  then  the  legs  of  the 
animal  gradually  appeared  above  water,  and  then  as 
the  body  grounded  about  twenty  yards  below  on  the 
gravelly  ford,  which  T.  had  failed  to  hit,  he  discovered 
that  his  horse's  legs  had  been  caught  by  the  reins, 
and  that  every  time  he  struck  out  he  jerked  his  head 
under  water.  To  plunge  again  into  the  whirling 
stream,  to  unclasp  his  knife,  cut  the  reins  and  take  a 
pull  at  the  horse's  head  was  the  work  of  a  second, 
when  the  brave  beast  jumped  on  his  legs,  and  after  a 
few  sobs  to  clear  out  his  pipes,  T.  vaulted  again  into 
the  saddle,  and  dashed  off  in  pursuit  of  the  hounds." 

The  advantages  of  cross-country  riding  and  gen- 
eral horseback  exercise  are  becoming  daily  so  appar- 
ent here,  that  it  is  not  an  exaggeration  to  say  that 
there  are  a  thousand  devoting  themselves  to-day  to 
that  lovely  and  healthy  pleasure  where  there  were  not 
fifty  ten  years  ago.  And  many  lady  riders  that  could 
equal  the  historic  leap  of  Mrs.  Cholmondley  who, 
while  riding  with  Lord  Cook  and  Rev.  John  Russell 
(age  80),  attempted  to  jump  the  boiling  river  Lynn, 
where  a  high  and  almost  perpendicular  boulder  stood 
erect,  bidding  defiance  to  any  steed  short  of  Pegasus, 
and  only  to  be  mounted  by  a  scaling  ladder. 

An  eye  witness  to  the  occurrence,  wrote  :  "Rus- 
sell shouted  to  Mrs.  Cholmondley  till  he  was^  hoarse ; 
the  storm  drowned  his  voice  ;  the  gallant  animal  did 
his  best  to  clear  it,  but  failing  to  reach  the  summit  of 
the  rock,  fell  heavily  back  into  the  boiling  Lynn,  and 


Across  H11.1.  and  Vai<k.  99 

so  saved  his  own  bones.  Russell's  blood  curdled  at 
the  sight.  *  Et  vox  famibus  hoesit,'  but  he  leaped 
from  his  saddle,  and  stood  by  her  side  in  another  in- 
stant, anxiously  awaiting-  the  recovery  of  her  breath, 
and  being  fully  persuaded  that  some  fracture  of  her 
limbs  must  have  taken  place.  Russell  said  :  '  Move 
your  right  arm,  now  the  other.  Your  right  foot,  the 
other.  Bravo,  not  a  bone  broken  there,  now  stand 
up.''' 

The  lady  did  so,  and,  although  much  bruised,  in 
a  short  time  was  little  the  worse  for  her  perilous 
adventure.  Lord  Cook,  a  hard  man  in  his  day,  and 
who  must  have  seen  more  bad  falls  than  most  men,  if 
not  during  the  mastership  of  the  Queen's  buckhounds, 
at  least  with  the  Christ  Church  drag,  was  so  shocked 
by  the  sight  that,  on  finding  the  lady  was  well  at- 
tended to,  turned  his  horse's  head  and  rode  home. 
The  English  and  Irish  equestrienne  have  undoubt- 
edly led  in  the  field  at  horsemanship,  in  the  past 
but  there  are  many  superb  and  fearless  riders  among 
American  women  in  the  United  States  of  to-day,  their 
peers. 


100 

^.  A  ^  (^  ^ 


Riders  of  Good  StocH. 


N"OT  so  many  years  ag-o — still  it  must  be  thirty 
or  more — an  equestrian  school  was  started  on 
__  J.  Thirteenth  street,  between  Fifth  and  Sixth 
avenues,  its  only  competitor  or  rival  being  at 
the  time  the  academy  in  the  rear  of  the  livery  stable, 
upon  the  site  of  the  present  Racquet  Club  at  Sixth 
avenue  and  Twenty-sixth  street.  But  it  was  at  the 
Thirteenth  street  school  that  the  wealth  and  fashion 
of  the  day  congregated  for  interchange  of  gossip  and 
afternoons  of  pleasure  on  horseback.  Many  werethe 
happy  little  flirtations  ensuing  there,  and  numerous 
the  instances  of  demure  matrons  to-day  congratula- 
ting themselves  at  having  met  their  Romeos  at  this 
rendezvous  of  the  whip  and  spur. 

This  Thirteenth  street  school  was  utilized  by  the 
government  of  the  United  States  during  the  civil  war 
on  special  days  entirely,  and  certain  hours  of  others, 
as  preliminary  practice  for  cavalry  and  artillery  horses 
and  riders.  The  North  was  entirely  unprepared  for 
that  branch  of  war,  calling  for  the  use  of  large  bodies 
of  mounted  men  and  horses  capable  of  adjusting  them- 
selves to  the  uses  called  for  by  stern  war's  necessities, 
with  the  incidental  fatigue  attached  thereto.  Arising 
from  this  school  came  a  large  portion  of  eastern  officers, 
horses  well  trained  and  capable  for  artillery  and  cav- 
alry purposes.  This  semi-army  school  was  practically 
under  the  control  of  Major  Dickel  (deceased)  and  other 
governmental  officers.  Ludicrous  were  the  errors  of 
these  cavalry  novices,  and  a  circus  would  not  compare 
in  fun  to  undesignedly  repeated  errors  of  the  raw 
recruits  in  tactics. 


Riders  of  Good  Stock.  101 

Partially  attracted  by  the  fun  of  witnessing*  these 
awkward  squads,  and  partially  because  it  was  pro- 
nounced fashionable  at  that  day,  the  school  became 
very  popular  as  an  afternoon  resort.  Modern  conti- 
nental travel  having-  become  about  the  same  period 
established  with  fashionable  New  York,  those  who 
returned  from  abroad  helped  to  establish  equestrianism 
upon  a  firm  basis,  both  as  a  health  promoter  and  a 
proper  fashionable  caper  at  the  North.  Of  course  in 
the  South  riding-  was  always  a  thing-  of  the  life's  daily 
routine.  Southern  roads  were  never  constructed  for 
pleasure  driving-,  as  any  modern  vehicle  would  be 
wrecked  and  ruined  with  the  corduroy  roads  abounding- 
in  Dixie. 

Some  time  after  the  establishment  of  the  Thir- 
teenth street  riding-  academy,  and  about  the  latter 
part  of  war  times,  the  demands  of  fashion  became  so 
pronounced  that  the  Dickels  were  prevailed  upon  to 
establish  themselves  further  up  town,  which  they  did 
at  the  site  of  the  present  Union  Leag-ue  Club,  corner 
Fifth  avenue  and  Thirty-ninth  street,  and  where  they 
were  enabled  to  provide  a  larg-er  and  lig-hter  ring-, 
better  ventilated  and  g-enerally  with  much  better 
provision  for  man  and  beast,  and,  indeed,  for  the 
period,  it  was  considered  quite  colossal  and  mag-nifi- 
cent.  It  was  there  that  the  junior  members  of  our  old 
Knickerbocker  families  held  their  afternoon  and 
evening-  classes,  and  amid  the  strains  of  a  military 
band  performed  the  evolutions  of  what  now  would  be 
considered  by  them  an  undue  regard  for  g-allery 
effect.  Mr.  J.  G.  Bennett,  Mr.  W.  P.  Doug-lass,  Gould 
Redmond,  Mr.  Phoenix,  and  other  society  men,  took 
great  personal  interest  in  the  development  of  the 
equestrian  art,  and  Mr.  Harry  Blasson  (lately  deceased), 
who  was  an  expert  cross-country  rider,  and  an  English- 
man of  a  military  family,  was  dispatched  to  Texas 
with  a  carte  blanche  order  to  buy  mustangs  peculiarly 


102  Riders  of  Good  Stock. 

suited  and  selected  for  polo.  The  g-ame  was  then  just 
born  in  England  and  introduced  into  the  United  States. 
The  honor  of  its  introduction  from  India  into  civili- 
zation was  generally  ascribed  to  Captain  Candy  and  a 
few  recently  returned  cavalry  officers  from  India,  the 
native  place  of  the  g-ame. 

Blasson  executed  his  commission  with  g-reat 
fidelity  and  expert  judgment,  and  g-reatly  to  the  fancy 
of  those  who  were  establishing-  polo.  The  object  of 
the  g-ame  of  polo,  besides  being-  one  of  interest  to 
onlookers,  was  to  establish  an  easy,  g-raceful  seat,  and 
to  enable  men  to  reach  that  acme  of  horsemanship,  to 
ride  from  "balance,"  and  to  have  at  all  times  a  more 
perfect  command  of  their  beast. 

Captain  Candy,  w^ho  was  so  instrumental  in  as- 
sisting in  the  formation  of  the  game  here  as  well  as  in 
England,  was  the  g-entleman  who  accepted  the  wager 
that  he  could  ride,  and  would  ride,  his  pony  up  stairs 
and  down  stairs  and  into  the  drawing  room  of  a  certain 
club  house  at  Newport.  Certain  particular  members 
of  the  club  objected,  and  even  some  of  the  non- 
bilious  members  protested,  claiming-  it  was  not  an 
innocent  diversion.  A  row  ensued,  and  the  outcome 
of  the  discussion  was  the  building-  of  Newport  Casino 
by  the  club's  seceders. 

After  the  arrival  of  the  ponies  Harry  Blasson  was 
commanded  to  put  them  in  g-ood  form.  Being-  an 
expert  on  condition,  and  lover  of  g-ood  manners  in  beasts, 
he  entered  zealously  into  his  labor  of  love,  and  the 
polo  club  was  established  with  all  the  necessary 
articles  for  success,  including-  club  house,  stables  and 
larder  filled  with  what  fishermen  occasionally  term 
"bait."  In  the  matter  of  g-ood  form  of  horses  and 
g-ood  seat  on  the  saddle  Blasson  was  not  to  be  despised, 
and  many  of  the  older  g-eneration  of  riders  owe  to  him 
to-day  much  of  their  capabilities  as  performers  on  the 
"pigskin."     Mr.  Blasson  did  much  to  discourage  what 


Riders  of  Good  Stock.  103 

is  known  as  the  "Dutch"  in  riding-,  which  is  a 
^^potage"  of  the  circus  and  quasi-military,  and  his 
influence  was  always  at  work  with  the  then  rising' 
g-eneration  to  improve  their  ideas.  He  had  a  horror 
of  velvet  riding-  caps,  Blucher  boots,  yellow  g-loyes, 
dilettante  whips  and  corduroy  coats.  His  time 
was  about  equally  divided  in  promoting  good  road 
horsemanship  and  the  abolition  of  absurd  accoutre- 
ment ;  for  it  would  be  difficult  to  find  in  existence  to- 
day a  sister  art  which  has  greater  distinctive  charac- 
teristics, combined  with  animosities,  than  the  various 
ideas  and  schools  of  equestrianism.  Take,  for  in- 
stance, in  Germany,  where  all  men  are  proscribed  for 
a  certain  number  of  years  to  the  army.  The  necessity 
is  enforced  to  assume  a  military  seat,  and  its  require- 
ment is  consequently  ingrafted  upon  the  minds  of  all 
men,  to  the  exclusion  of  the  necessity  for  any  other, 
and  its  application  to  army  purposes  becomes  second 
nature,  frequently  ignoring  its  alteration  for  park 
hunting  or  rough  riding. 

The  Frenchmen  apparently  follow  the  Germans, 
and  also  appear  incapable  of  altering  their  style  of 
riding  for  different  purposes.  Conspicuously  different 
are  the  Austrian,  Knglish  and  Irish  officers,  who  can 
instantly  change  to  the  correct  attitude  and  seat  for 
whatever  purpose  emergency  might  demand. 

The  result  of  all  this  is  that  Germans,  whether 
country  gentlemen  after  retiring  from  the  army,  or 
retired  officers,  are  rarely  or  never  seen  in  the  hunting 
field  in  Europe  or  here.  Vainly  would  you  seek  for 
them  in  England,  Ireland  or  with  the  Rockaway, 
Meadow  Brook,  Essex  or  any  other  drag  hunt  packs, 
although    always    as  welcome  as  other  nationalities. 

In  Washington  last  winter  our  fun  loving  Naval 
Secretary  Whitney  interested  and  excited  the  Washing- 
ton social  fabric  by  the  paper  hunt  meets  he  inaugu- 
rated  and    fostered,    and  which    became    immensely 


104  Riders  of  Good  Stock. 

popular,  so  that  Washing-tonians  are  looking*  forward 
with  anxious  expectancy  to  a  renewal  of  them  next 
season.  The  charmed  circle  of  equestrians  require  more 
than  mere  driving,  for  be  you  never  so  expert  a  whip, 
even  capable  of  fig-uring-  8  with  tandem  in  a  twenty-foot 
ring,  capable  of  "tooling"  a  four-in-hand  around  a 
gatepost,  or  driving  "egg-stepping"  cobs  with  a 
thread,  all  admirable  in  their  way,  you  shall  not  enter, 
and  your  efforts  are  futile  without  the  accomplishment 
of  the  whip  and  spur  and  the  leap  of  the  five-barred 
gate.  Thus  the  potential  influences  of  the  riding 
circles  abroad  for  centuries,  among  diplomats  and  the 
military  and  old  county  families,  is  being  reflected 
here.  Along  the  byways  and  highways  in  Ireland 
and  England  you  will  see  in  the  season  such  social 
leaders  as  the  Marquis  of  Headfort,  Colonel  Frazer, 
Earl  Clonmel,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Cornwallis  West,  Lord 
Rossmore,  Lady  Randoph  Churchill  {iiee  Jennie  Jerome 
of  New  York)  and  Lord  Cole,  all  absolutely  devoted 
to  the  Curraghmore  hounds,  Kilkenny  foxes  and 
Limerick  Vale. 

A  riding  story  would  be  incomplete  without  refer- 
ring to  a  certain  young  New  York  editor,  always  a  horse- 
man superior  to  the  average,  but  not  at  all  times  an  ex- 
pert across  a  severe  country,  although  there  is  scarcely  a 
fashionable  county  in  Ireland  or  England  that  he  has 
not  set  up  his  hunting  box  in,  conspicuously  at  Melton 
Mobray,  Leicestershire,  England,  where  he  kept  thirty 
hunters  and  twenty -two  servants.  It  was  always  a 
mistake  to  ascribe  absolute  indifference  to  fate  to  him, 
for  not  many  years  ago,  as  a  result  of  friendly  badin- 
age, Mr.  Elliot  Zborowski  of  the  Union  Club  was 
authorized  by  him  to  construct  such  a  course  for 
steeplechasing  as  might  suit  his  (Z's)  fancy,  and  he 
would  ride  against  him.  The  conditions  named  and 
accepted,  Mr.  Z.  set  about  his  work  with  enthusiasm, 
and,  ^s  to  come  near  to  a  natural  Irish  county,  Meath 


Riders  of  Good  Stock.  105 

county,  was  Mr.  Z.'s  ambition,  he  found  the  requisite 
material  in  stone  abounding-  in  Newport  grass  lands — 
hill,  dale,  running-  brook,  all  were  there,  including-  the 
requisite  Irish  bog-  lands,  and  his  heart  was  delig-hted. 
The  moonlight  night  for  the  race  soon  came,  all 
fashionable  Newport  having-  looked  forward  with 
anxious  expectancy  thereto,  after  the  receipt  of  their 
beautifully  eng-raved  cards  of  invitation.  Clouds  occa- 
sionally obscured  the  moon  and  sky  that  night,  but 
these  fitful  obscurations  only  made  the  interest  g-reater 
and  the  riding-  more  hazardous.  Mr.  Z.  impatiently 
awaited  the  young-  journalist.  Suddenly  the  "thud" 
of  the  hoofs  of  a  g-alloping-  horse  was  heard  to  approach 
nearer  and  nearer,  but  it  was  not  the  challeng-er ;  only 
his  g-room,  who  handed  a  pretty  pink  envelope  with 
the  requisite  forfeit.  In  order  not  to  disappoint  the 
brilliant  assemblage  of  fashion  and  wealth  who  came 
from  all  directions  of  Newport,  Mr.  Z.  mounted  his 
Pegasus  and  smilingly  larked  over  the  course  at  a  little 
less  than  racing  speed,  unattended  by  any  one  but  the 
Angel  of  Safety,  who  piloted  him  kindly  over  the 
stiffest  steeplechase  course  ever  made  in  America. 


106 


Tbe  Tborougbbred'^  Decline- 


THB   race   course   having-  caused  the  excessive 
creation  of  thoroug-hbreds,  a  demand  is  grow- 
ing- popular  for  a  suitable  arena  for  the  gen- 
eral   utility   horse  to   exhibit  his  speed   and 
endurance  at  other  paces  than  the  g-allop. 

While  the  demand  commercially  is,  it  is  true,  not 
sufficiently  attractive  to  create  the  much  desired  sup- 
ply, an  appeal  for  the  institution  of  trotting-  similar 
to  America  exists  g-enerally  throughout  the  United 
Kingdom.  It  is  also  claimed  that  the  English  do  not 
possess  such  good  horses  now  as  they  did  100  years 
ago.  It  is  said  that  all  the  best  horses  are  obtained 
from  foreign  sources  ;  that  while  England  in  the  past 
supplied  Europe  with  her  best  horses  she  is  now  de- 
pendent upon  continental  countries  for  her  useful  sup- 
plies. This  is  regarded  in  England  as  a  national 
calamity. 

It  is  said  that  half  the  carriage  horses  in  London 
during  the  past  season  have  emanated  from  foreign 
sources.  Lord  Rosebery's  committee,  which  sat  in 
1873  upon  the  subject  of  horse  scarcity,  although 
eliciting  some  valuable  information,  failed  to  throw 
much  light  on  the  subject,  for  the  reason,  it  is  said, 
that  they  did  not  recognize  the  true  cause.  England 
to-day  is  dependent  upon  America  and  continental 
countries,  although  horses  imported  by  them  are 
deficient  in  quality  and  form,  which,  for  over  a  hun- 
dred 3^ears..  England  has  been  taught  to  admire. 
Germany,  France  and  America  have  taken  the  best 
mares  England  has  had.  Many  English  farmers 
claim  it  pays  them  better  to  breed  sheep  than  horses, 
and  many   failures  of  breeding  establishments  have 


The  Thoroughbred's  Decline.  107 

discourag-ed  them.  There  is  an  excess  of  supply  of 
the  thoroughbred,  but  a  deficiency  in  the  g-eneral  util- 
ity horse. 

The  race  horse  rules  dominant  in  the  minds  of 
horsemen,  and  it  is  said  there  is  a  disreg-ard  of  the 
national  importance  of  the  g-eneral  utility  horse.  In 
the  breeding  of  race  horses  the  young-sters  represent 
certain  items  with  which  every  racing-  man  who  buys 
one  hopes  to  g"ain  a  prize.  Exclude  that  calculation, 
and  such  an  animal  would  hardly  find  a  buyer,  and 
certainly  would  not  in  any  event  realize  the  heavy 
prices  usually  obtained  unless  the  race  course  was 
within  his  vision.  It  is  claimed  that  the  thorough- 
bred rarely  exhibits  the  qualifications  required  to 
carry  sixteen  stone  (224  pounds)  or  to  draw  a  ton,  yet 
many  half-bred  animals  possess  the  physical  develop- 
ment necessary  to  render  them  capable  of  such  per- 
formances. It  is  very  justly  contended  that  racing- 
should  be  a  pastime  and  not  a  business.  The  conti- 
nental military  org-anizations  create  a  demand  for 
useful  horses,  and  therefore  their  business  operations 
are  directed  in  propag-ating-  g-eneral  utility  horses. 

Conspicuous  is  the  criticism  leveled  at  the  intel- 
lect of  Kng-lishmen,  which  is  concentrated  upon  the 
production  of  one  select  breed  of  horses,  and  that  only 
because  they  are  fast  g-allopers — breeding-  horses  that 
are  only  successful,  very  often,  of  running-  half  a  mile 
at  a  very  early  ag-e.  Good  walkers,  fast  trotters,  and 
weight-carrying-  hacks  are  to  have  an  arena  to  test 
their  powers.  This  idea  has  been  derived  from  Amer- 
ica, where  we  possess  better  beasts  of  burden  than 
the  Kng-lish,  because  we  have  made  better  selections. 
Next  to  America,  Germany  has  made  the  best  pur- 
chases from  Eng-land,  not  because  of  the  desire  to 
maintain  the  supremacy  of  her  beasts  of  burden,  but 
from  her  desire  to  perpetuate  her  military  supremacy; 
Germany,   like    America,    having-    selected    the  best 


108  The  Thoroughbred's  Deci<ine. 

strains  of  English  blood  and  crossed  them  with  her 
mares  of  coarser  breed.  From  ancient  times  we  have 
steadily  advanced.  The  horse  of  to-day  is  all  over 
America  and  England  and  France  unquestionably  a 
larger  and  more  powerful  animal  than  the  horse  of 
ancient  Greece,  although  one  would  reverse  this  con- 
clusion if  we  were  to  adopt  as  correct  the  Roman  wall 
paintings  of  stallions  harnessed  to  chariots  where  the 
horses  are  apparently  so  much  larger  than  the  vehicle. 
The  best  evidences  of  this  fact  of  physical  improve- 
ment are  shoes  excavated  from  Roman  and  other 
tumuli,  which  give  us  a  fair  indication  of  the  size  of 
the  horse  for  which  they  were  forged,  the  discovery  of 
each  century  indicating  the  size  growing  larger,  and 
from  that  fact  the  deduction  follows,  of  general  devel- 
opment, increasing  proportionately  with  the  foot.  It 
is  questionable  if  the  ancient  horse  stood  over  eleven 
hands  high,  and  it  was  only  by  breeding  from  heav}" 
imported  mares  that  horses  were  obtained  in  England 
capable  of  carr3'ing  the  heavy  armored  knights  of  old, 
who  took  two  squires  to  lift  them  into  the  saddle;  and  it 
was  upon  these  crosses  that  the  chargers  of  the  Anglo- 
Normans,  Plantagenets  and  Tudors  were  mounted. 

During  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII.  any  stallion 
that  was  under  fifteen  hands,  and  mare  less  than 
thirteen  hands  was  not  permitted  to  run  wild ;  they 
were  caught  and  killed.  Many  people  talk  about 
blood.  Of  what  does  it  consist,  or  what  leads  us  to 
discover  the  difference  between  a  well  bred  and  a 
coarse  bred  animal  ?  It  is  in  the  configuration  and 
elegance  of  shape,  which  cannot  be  perfected  unless 
every  part  of  the  body  be  well  proportioned  one  to  the 
other.  Both  beauty  and  strength  are  evidenced  by 
proportion,  and  according  to  the  extent  and  degree  of 
speed  and  endurance  of  the  animal. 

It  is  an  interesting  fact  that  the  sire  of  all  the 
best  horses  on  the  turf  the  world  over  was  the  Godol- 


The  Thoroughbred's  Decline.  109 

phin  barb  in  1725,  called  Arabian,  who  was  of  very 
uncertain  caste  and  was  purchased  out  of  a  watering- 
cart  in  Paris  from  a  person  unacquainted  with  his 
pedig-ree ;  but  his  Oriental  descent  was  unquestioned. 
But  the  Arabian  stock  not  properly  crossed  with  Kng-- 
lish  stock  would  never  amount  to  much. 

The  finest  Arabian  ever  seen,  if  possessing-  the 
advantag-es  of  the  best  Eng-lish  training-,  could  never 
beat  a  second-class  Kng-lish  race-horse.  In  breeding- 
the  Eng-lish  cross  produced  the  posterior  series  of 
org-ans  and  superior  size  and  proportion,  and  the  Asi- 
atic the  anterior,  the  org-ans  of  sense,  forehead,  appli- 
cation, action  and  vital  system,  with  density  of  fiber. 
It  is  difficult  to  remove  the  worldwide  impression  of 
the  superiority  of  the  Arabian  horse  ;  they  never 
broug-ht  credit  upon  their  owners,  and  it  is  safe  to 
repeat  never  have  nor  ever  will  be  a  match  for  any 
Kng-lish  or  American  race  horse  of  inferior  quality 
that  ever  was  bred.  At  the  same  time  we  are  not 
producing-  as  g-ood  horses  as  sixty  years  ag-o,  as  there 
is  not  a  race  horse  living-  that  could  run  in  any  form 
a  race  of  six  miles  as  they  did  then.  In  1676  a  race 
was  run  on  Winchester  Downs,  g-entlemen  up,  of  four- 
mile  heats,  196  pounds,  and  in  1719  the  Duke  of  Rut- 
land ran  Bonny  Black  sixteen  miles  for  $5,000,  who 
was  by  Byerly  Turk  out  of  a  mare  by  a  Persian  stallion. 

Here  is  a  demonstration  of  the  g-ood  effects  pro- 
duced by  cross-breeding-.  But  we  are  acting  to-day 
in  entire  opposition  to  all  the  best  preconceived  theo- 
ries of  our  ancestors  to  produce  endurance,  all  for  the 
thirst  of  g-ain,  because  race  horse  owners  must  pro- 
duce for  the  two-year-old  form  races,  and  because 
profit  is  alone  the  stimulus,  and  not  improvement  of 
the  breed.  It  does  not  take  any  particular  shrewd- 
ness to  count  the  days  that  this  ig-norance  of  the 
objects  of  racing-  (upon  both  sides  of  the  water)  will 
cause  the  extinguishment  of  the  race  course. 


110 


JocHeys  ^nd  R^icers, 


THERE  is  scarcely  anything  of  greater  interest 
to  that  portion  of  a  race  course  assemblag-e 
which  fills  the  g-rand  stand  than  to  be  placed 
in  possession  of  information  as  to  who  are  the 
jockeys,  what  t*hey  earn,  where  they  come  from,  etc. 
The  colors  and  descriptions  of  them  are  frequently  not 
in  accord,  but  these  optical  delusions,  the  ladies  know, 
belong-  to  the  master. 

Racing-  lads  beg-in  as  a  rule  from  the  bottom 
rung-  of  the  ladder ;  from  the  stable  boy  sweeper  to 
exercise  lad,  and  then  to  the  maiden  mount.  Some  of 
these  boys,  never  overcoming-  their  fear  of  the  terrific 
pace  set  by  an  extended  thoroug-hbred,  lose  reasoning 
power,  and,  failing-  in  that,  return  to  the  stable. 
Such  boys  hardly  ever  after  rise  to  the  dig-nity  of 
trainers  or  superior  to  the  stable  classes. 

The  principles  of  successful  riding-  are  a  powerful 
seat,  g-ood  hands,  and  a  judg-eof  pace,  tog-ether  with  a 
level,  cool  head  to  take  advantage  of  the  various  elements 
constituting  success.  The  jocke3^'s  seat  is  peculiar  to 
him  and  different  from  all  other  riding.  It  is  to  give 
ease  to  his  mount,  to  restrain  his  horse  only  sufficiently 
to  correct  him  and  avoid  his  spreading  himself.  These 
are  the  elementary  principles.  The  chief  merit  lies  in 
the  head — to  prepare  and  follow  out  a  campaign  with- 
out a  second's  loss.  Is  it  astonishing  with  the  light 
weights  called  for  in  two-year-old  races  such  children 
as  are  given  the  mounts  ride  without  skill?  And 
thousands  upon  thousands  of  dollars  are  lost  and  the 
bettors  have  not  really  had  a  race  for  their  money  for 
that  reason.     In  riding  races  numerous  little  accidents 


Jockeys  and  Racers.  Ill 

occur  that  ^  prior  instructions  cannot  cover ;  and 
courag-e,  skill  and  presence  of  mind  are  required.  A 
really  g-ood  jockey  will  not  slavishly  obey  instructions, 
but  will  frequently  disobey  them.  To  g-et  through  a 
ruck  of  horses,  good  hands  more  than  the  head  are 
required.  An  experienced  eye  can  tell  whether  the 
pace  is  telling  upon  the  horses  around  him,  and 
whether  the  necessity  of  going  around  them  is  ap- 
parent, whether  they  are  all  sinking,  or  nearly 
all,  and  cannot  impede  him  in  his  efforts.  His  judg- 
ment here  must  come  in  and  tell  him  whether  he  is 
riding  the  gamest ;  whether  to  nurse  him,  or  if  to 
confidently  send  him  along,  knowing  he  has  the  stay- 
ing powers.  The  public  are  rapidly  acquiring  a 
knowledge  of  the  jockey's  art,  and  turn  with  disgust 
from  amateur  flat  races — they  appear  to  be  a  dead 
letter.  At  any  rate  there  is  not  apparent  any  evi- 
dence of  a  revival. 

The  graduations  in  the  jockey  class  are  numer- 
ous. Some  are  men  of  considerable  wealth,  who, 
like  the  McLaughlins,  own  several  brown  stone 
fronts,  Axminster  carpets  and  grand  pianos.  Others 
are  not  quite  certain  that  the  game  of  knife  and  fork 
will  be  played  at  the  evening's  sunset.  A  jockey's 
usual  fee  is  $10  for  an  unsuccessful  race,  and  $25  for 
a  winning  one ;  although  it  would  be  very  unusual, 
in  a  race  of  any  importance,  if  the  jockey  did  not  re- 
ceive anywhere  from  $200  to  $1,000,  or  even  more. 
Fees  for  success  will  not  bear  comparison  here  with 
European  ones,  $5,000,  $10,000  and  even  $15,000  hav- 
ing been  promised  and  given  for  successfully  execu- 
ting orders  upon  courses  like  the  Kpsom  and  Doncas- 
ter.  It  must  be  understood,  however,  that  these 
prices  are  given  when  a  jocke}'  is  unemployed,  for  if 
regularly  engaged  there  is  a  special  fixed  salary  for 
each  season  or  stated  period,  varying  according  to' 
rank  or  profession.     One  would  think  that  $10  or  $25 


112  Jockeys  and  Racers. 

is  ample  remuneration  for  the  short  space  of  time 
they  are  eng-ag-ed.  If  they  were  constantly  employed 
so  it  would  be,  but  there  are  long-  intervals  between 
eng-ag-ements,  and  jockeys  are  not  very  careful  in 
husbanding-  their  resources.  The  moment  a  jockey 
has  successfully  banked  a  few  thousands  he  considers 
himself  on  a  basis  of  rivalry  with  Croesus.  And  a 
valet,  champag-ne  and  French  dishes  are  requisite, 
when  comparatively  recently  he  was  "hunting-"  for 
bread,  cheese  and  potatoes.  Indeed,  instances  of  fru- 
g-ality  are  not  very  numerous,  althoug-h  some  few 
have  been  able  to  ov>^n  their  mounts  and  start  a  train- 
ing- stable. 

As  it  is  only  in  a  few  cases  of  more  than  ordinary 
successful  wins  that  they  receive  larg-e  sums,  they 
are  not  overpaid.  And,  taking-  everything*  into  con- 
sideration, jeopardy  to  life  and  limb  and  the  hazards 
of  their  calling-,  their  compulsory  dietary  restrictions 
to  keep  down  weight,  a  jockey's  life  is  not  a  particu- 
larly enviable  one.  The  leng-th  of  years  a  jockey  is 
employed  is  not  a  very  great  one  ;  with  increasing 
years  the  nerve  departs,  and  fashion  is  fickle.  A  few 
men  are  fashionable  this  season  and  discarded  the 
next. 

As  steeplechases  permit  by  the  heavy  weight 
imposed,  the  employment  of  jockeys  whose  increasing 
weight  has  rendered  them  unfit  for  flat  racing,  and 
is  about  the  only  means  of  giving  them  legitimate 
employment,  it  is  a  sport  which  should  be  encouraged 
and  not  discarded.  Sheepshead  Bay,  for  instance, 
no  longer  gives  steeplechases,  but  has  supplanted 
them  with  hurdle  races,  a  far  more  dangerous  sport, 
which  allows  a  lot  of  needy  half  broken  down  and 
untrained  jumpers  to  compete  to  the  risk  of  life  and 
limb,  to  a  far  greater  extent  than  carefully  ridden 
•and  well-trained  cross-country  racers  would.  As  a 
rule  jockeys  are  superior  in  morals  to  their  masters. 


Jockeys  and  Racers.  113 

And  seldom  are  they  known  to  take  the  bribe  that  is 
theirs  if  acceptable.  It  is  true  that  a  jockey  has  to 
take  orders  to  ride  behind,  but  there  are  even  a  few 
who  would  decline  such  a  mount. 

In  important  races,  such,  for  instance,  as  the  last 
Suburban,  the  jockeys  have  generally  had  several 
gallops  before  the  race.  But  there  are  some  who 
never  have  crossed  their  legs  over  the  particular 
horse  they  were  engaged  to  ride  until  the  bell  was 
rung.  So  it  is  very  astonishing  what  extraordinary 
capabilities  some  of  them  show,  considering  it  is 
their  first  mount  upon  this  particular  horse,  all  infor- 
mation as  to  peculiarities  being  received  from  the 
trainer,  who  has  never  himself  mounted  the  animal, 
and  his  information  is,  at  best,  second  hand.  How- 
ever, if  an  artist,  the  jockey  will  almost  ride  his 
horse  to  perfection.  Still,  the  previous  riding  of  a 
horse  is  a  great  advantage  to  a  jockey,  and  nothing 
but  the  desire  to  keep  up  an  uncertainty  should  ever 
prevent  it  in  important  events.  It  is  a  pity  that  so 
many  own  and  run  horses  who  never  have  crossed  a 
limb  over  a  thoroughbred  horse  to  extend  him  in 
their  lives,  and  consequently  are  in  absolute  igno- 
rance of  the  countless  peculiarities  almost  of  the 
blooded  youngsters.  For  each  one  in  itself  has  its 
own  erratic  ways.  The  jockeys  know,  but  frequently 
are  in  such  awe  of  their  masters  that  they  are  de- 
prived of  the  power  of  expression.  Such  jockeys 
frequently  ride  contrary  to  command  because  they 
feel  they  are  in  possession  of  better  information  than 
received  instructions.  It  is  for  this  reason  that  they 
often  win  where  they  otherwise  would  fail.  It  is  to 
be  regretted  that  sometimes  the  master  is  wiser  than 
the  jockey  fancies.  For  the  horse  intended  by  the 
owner  to  lose,  wins — the  master  is  out  of  pocket  and 
seeks  for  some  trivial  excuse  later  on  to  discharge 
him.     Lucky  for  the  jockey  if  he  has  the  prestige  of  at 


114  Jockeys  and  Racers. 

least  a  "win "to  his  credit,  to  seek  an  eng-agement 
elsewhere. 

Upon  the  eng-ag-ement  of  a  jockey  he  is  told  at 
what  weig-ht  he  must  ride  at,  and  down  to  that  he  is 
expected  to  come.  Usually  the  jockey  finds  his  own 
saddle,  not  the  bridle.  If  there  is  any  overweight, 
the  jockey  must  declare  it  at  the  scales. 

Much  complaint  is  frequently  heard  against  the 
tardy  starting  of  jockeys.  If  the  flag-  was  abolished 
and  a  loud  bell  substituted — one  which  could  be 
heard  all  over  the  course— it  would  enable  jockeys  to 
pay  better  attention  to  their  mounts.  When  a  horse's 
head  is  pointing  in  another  direction  it  is  almost  im- 
possible for  a  jockey  to  keep  his  eye  on  the  flag-.  Nor 
is  this  all.  The  ear,  being  quicker  than  the  eye,  the 
quick-witted  thoroug-hbred,  becoming  accustomed  to 
the  bell  like  the  car  horses,  would  be  off  at  once  and 
better  time  would  be  made.  It  has  often  been 
remarked  that  our  starters  should  be  well-bred 
g-entlemen  of  unquestionable  integ-rity,  whose  com- 
panions were  as  far  removed  as  possible  from  those 
of  professional  horsemen  of  sporting-  characters. 
There  is  entirely  too  much  scandal,  whether  true 
or  not,  floating-  around  this  official  place.  And  also, 
it  is  to  be  reg-retted  that  singular  and  inexplicable 
coincidences  have  recently  not  tended  to  the  discour- 
ag-ement  of  these  rumors.  Unless  speedy  recov- 
ery from  such  an  impression  ensues,  racing-  attend- 
ance will  surely  diminish.  The  truest  racing  interests 
demand  argus-eyed  vigilance,  combined  with  press 
publicity  of  anything-  scandalous,  for  speedy  cor- 
rection. If  real  gentlemen  held  starters'  places, 
they  might  not  at  first  be  quite  as  keen  as  the  profes- 
sional ones,  but  they  would  speedily  learn,  and  the 
betting  public  would  feel  that  if  their  money  was  lost 
they  at  least  had  a  fair  race  for  their  money.  Then, 
again,  the  financial  and  moral  interests  of  the  racing- 


Jockeys  and  Racers.  115 

associations  would  be  better  subserved.  While  writ- 
ing- in  this  connection  I  think  it  would  be  well  if  it 
were  made  a  penal  offense  for  any  one  to  surreptiti- 
ously obtain  information  or  steal  a  trial^  of  horses. 
The  general  public  show  vastly  more  intellig-ence 
than  appears  upon  the  surface  with  race  committees, 
or  than  such  committees  think  they  may  possess,  and 
the  day  is  not  far  distant  when  the  public  judgment  of 
pace  will  get  down  to  such  a  fine  point  that  through 
a  good  field  glass  they  will  be  able  to  discern  what 
jockeys  are  overriding,  underworking  or  monkeying 
with   their  mounts. 


^fe 


KZiCiT)%  ^5  it  Wais  ^Y)^  Is 


WITHIN  the  memory  of  man  such  immense 
crowds  have  not,  in  the  United  States,  at 
least,  continuously  visited  race  courses  as 
do  to-day.  The  Irish  contingent  are  pas- 
sionately fond  of  racing  between  the  flags,  and  steeple- 
chasing  nestles  closer  to  their  hearts  than  the  flat 
(witness  the  Milesian  enthusiasm  at  Jerome  this  fall). 
The  remembrance  of  Brunette  and  Abd  El  Kader  will 
be  green  when  Faugh-a-Ballagh,  the  Baron  and  Knight 
of  St.  George  are  forgotten. 

When  Dugald  Bannatyne,  in  1872-3,  produced 
Milesian,  Duffy  and  Mitchell  upon  the  race  course  at 
Monmouth  Park,  there  was  not  a  Celt  within  100  miles 
that  did  not  wish  he  were  there  to  see.  But  other  nat- 
ionalities, en  masse,  cared  as  little  as  if  they  were 
grif&ns  for  the  cross  country  champions. 


116  Racing  as  it  Was  and  Is. 

In  the  early  years  of  racing-  m  Eng-land  a  blood 
horse  was  the  idol  of  the  Briton,  and  before  railways 
were  readily  accessible  it  was  a  common  occurrence  year 
after  year  to  see  Yorkshiremen  walking-  throug-h  the 
nig-ht  eighteen  or  twenty  miles,  taking-  up  a  g-ood  pos- 
ition next  the  rail  and  walking-  home  ag-ain  from  Don- 
caster. 

In  the  north  and  east  riding-s  of  Yorkshire  there 
was  scarely  a  farm  of  note  that  did  not  have  its  little 
oval  country  courses,  dotted  with  white  posts  and  ap- 
proached by  wide  rustic  gates,  through  which  gener- 
ation after  generation  of  county  families  vied  with 
each  other  in  importing  the  best  blood.  Twenty  years 
ago  the  Yorkshire  country  and  surroundings  would 
show  on  their  country  roads  a  sheeted  regiment  of 
racers  with  their  saddle-bags  on  their  backs  and  their 
tiny  grooms  heading  them,  Indian  file,  on  their  w^ay  to 
race  meetings. 

The  attendance  at  American  meetings  is  as  large, 
and  the  spirit  of  enjoyment  is  as  great  as  in  England, 
but  we  have  not  the  roadside  houses  where  the  inn- 
keepers are  posted  on  the  racing  events,  nor  have  we 
the  jolly  landlords  to  discourse  without  any  bidding  to 
favored  groops  by  the  hour.  No  private  mail  coach 
passes  by  our  roadside  taverns  to  races,  nor  do^  guard 
or  coachman  look  in  with  longing  regret,  that  views  on 
racing  probabilities  cannot  be  exchanged  for  hot  drinks. 
Boniface  cares  for  trotting  yet,  and  will  not  "catch  on" 
to  running  racing. 

In  the  days  of  old,  you  could  not  visit  an  inn  on 
the  Bloomingdale  road  that  the  genial  proprietor  would 
not  give  you  points  on  that  occult  science,  training,  in 
which  his  word  was  law,  and  any  deviation  from  it  dis- 
aster, and  the  sons  and  daughters  could  tell  how  the 
jockeys  could  bring  their  too  solid  flesh  to  melt  ten  or 
fifteen  pounds,  and  how  to  bring  a  horse  to  the  post  as 
fit  as  any  trainer's. 


Racing  as  it  Was  and  Is.  117 

It  was  in  these  piping-  time  of  peace,  in  the  old  days 
"afore  the  war,"  when  trotting-  was  under  saddle  and 
to  sulky  that  g-enial  Boniface  held  sway  over  admiringy 
multitudes,  and  the  stable  boy  went  his  way  whistling- 
and  sing-ing-: 

*'  I'll  bet  my  money  on  a  bobtail  nag-,  doo-da,  doo-da,  day." 

Training  in  our  g-randfathers'  day,  if  memory  has 
not  failed,  was  much  heavier  than  in  this  rapid  era. 
Heavy-clothed  sweats  have  g-one  out  of  fashion,  except 
a  horse  is  fearfully  g-ross.  We  are  much  more  consid- 
erate now  than  we  were  then.  The  over  preparation 
of  the  famous  Voltigeur  in  his  match  preparation,  so 
that  his  form  wholly  left  him  and  he  could  not  be  coax- 
ed to  feed,  was  a  brilliant  example  that  left  a  valuable 
lesson  behind. 

In  the  olden  days  there  were  some  curious  super- 
stitions among-  jockeys,  one  of  Vv'hich  was  the  last  out 
of  the  paddock  was  to  be  the  first  home  in  the  race, 
and  each  jockey  was  tenacious  on  this  point  for  luck. 

In  this  era  of  lightweight  riding-,  where  intelli- 
g-ence  and  strength  are  called  for,  I  cannot  help  think- 
ing that  Tom  Thumb,  if  alive,  would  have  been  in  de- 
mand, and,  with  his  keen  love  of  sport,  our  Dwj^ers  and 
company  would  surely  have  had  him  schooled  for  the 
racing  voyage.  Jockeyship  as  an  art  has  not  gone 
back,  and  it  would  be  strange  if  it  had,  seeing  the 
immense  practice  boys  get  in  handicaps  all  over  the 
country. 

Many  bright  young  jocks  will  have  ridden  as  many 
races  at  twenty  as  their  less  lucky  grandfathers  had 
done  at  forty.  Strong  lads  are  soon  qualified  to  ride 
anything  if  it  is  the  size  of  a  camel  or  has  the  mouth  of  a 
zebra,  and  finish  with  precision.  The  jockey  of  to-day 
is  superior  to  his  father,  and  some  years  ago  it  was 
twenty  to  one  on  the  man  finishing  alongside  a  young- 
ster, now  the  former  finds  it  impossible  to  come  it  over 


118  Racing  as  it  Was  and  Is. 

the  youth,  and  the  old  trick  of  gammoning  young  artful 
has  passed.  For  when  the  lad  sees  the  old  man  taking 
it  easy  he  catches  him  at  the  post,  and  boj^s  are  not  held 
as  cheaply  now  as  they  were  in  the  past  in  consequence. 
No  profession  is  more  trying  than  the  jocks  in  every 
way.  Strong  walks,  dietary  privations  and  the  years 
to  retrieve  even  a  false  suspicion  or  a  false  step. 

Many  morbid  minds  of  racing  men  do  not  believe 
any  race  is  run  square,  and  the  merest  novice  who  has 
lost  his  money  considers  himself  competent  to  criticise 
and  pronounce  sweeping  judgment.  Jockeys  survive 
this  criticism,  but  owners  and  trainers  are  fretful,  and 
are  ever  ready  to  punish  the  jockeys  as  an  excuse  for 
their  horses  being  beaten. 

There  are  more  than  enough  instances  of  owners 
physicking  their  horses  before  a  great  race  because 
they  dare  not  trust  their  jockey  with  pulling  instruct- 
ions, and  after  his  losing  the  race,  consequent  upon  his 
mount's  unfortunate  condition,  they  discharge  the 
jocke}^  to  shield  themselves,  and  make  the  rider  the 
scapegoat. 

Another  very  unfortunate  position  a  professional 
has  is  this:  An  owner  can  retain  a  jockey's  services  and 
3'et  refuse  to  let  him  have  mounts  from  his  stable,  and 
by  not  riding  for  his  stable  the  fact  becomes  noticed 
to  his  detriment;  they  are  hindered  from  making  en- 
gagements for  other  stables,  who  can  never  feel  sure 
they  will  be  able  to  get  them,  seeing  that  this  dormant 
prior  claim  is  pretty  certain  to  be  interposed  for  a  sin- 
gle race  or  so,  just  when  they  most  want  them. 

There  is  a  reverse  side  to  the  argument,  of  course, 
that  the  race  horse  owner  presents  which  is  correct  in 
principle,  and  which  is,  that  without  binding  laws, 
jockeys  would  give  up  masters  perpetually  to  rival 
stables,  for  big  '  'keeps"  as  the  boys  say.  The  only  large 
bettors  we  have  had  on  this  side  of  the  pond  were  Pierre 
Lorillard,  "Plunger"  Walton  and  the  Dwyers,  though 


Racing  as  it  Was  and  Is.  119 

it  has  not  generally  been  thought  that  either  Pierre 
Lorillard  or  the  Dwyers  ever  stood  to  win  over  $50,000 
on  any  event.  Theodore  Walton,  the  "Plunger"  has, 
however,  when  he  was  in  his  betting  prime  at  New- 
market, stood  to  win  upon  a  single  race  $200,000. 
These  sums  though  enormous,  are  not  uncommon  in 
Great  Britain. 

A  club  house  for  betting  was  built  in  1827  (as  long 
ago  as  that),  the  decorations  of  which  cost  $470,000 
alone.  It  was  owned  by  Crockford,  who  was  the  turf 
Rothschild  of  his  day.  Among  the  great  bettors  of  the 
olden  time  might  be  mentioned  one  Gully,  who  won 
$175,000  on  Margrade  for  the  St.  Leger,  and  $250,000 
on  St.  Giles  for  the  Derby.  Gully  and  one  Risdale 
were  partners,  and  they  had  some  sort  of  a  dispute  over 
the  spoils.  Their  joint  books  showed  a  balance  on 
settling  up  of  over  $400,000,  a  pretty  respectable  sum. 

Next  to  Plunger  Walton,  w^hose  American  and  Eng- 
lish career  was  so  meteoric,  perhaps  Lord  George  Bent- 
wick  was  the  nearest  approach;  but  Bentwick,  like 
Walton,  gained  his  experience  in  one  year — the  cruci- 
ble of  which  was  the  loss  of  $135,000  in  twelve  months. 

With  all  the  craze  racing  is  in  America  it  has  never 
developed  the  oddities  of  its  patron  saint  old  England. 
For  instance,  the  betting  on  the  Derby,  which  is  enor- 
mous, is  five  times  greater  than  on  the  St.  Leger;  and 
the  Cambridgeshire  induces  men  to  play  double  or  quits. 

The  extensive  and  peculiar  system  of  giving  large 
credits  on  English  courses  show  frequently  ludicrous 
examples.  For  instance,  at  Doncaster  there  are  strange 
chases  between  debtors  and  creditors.  Runaway  debt- 
ors will  drive  off  madly  to  the  station  sometimes,  to 
catch  the  first  train  either  way,  and  the  creditor  who 
has  sought  in  vain  for  the  much  wished  for  face  in  the 
racing  enclosure,  will  follow  in  hot  haste.  Sometimes 
the  debtor  will  take  for  the  nearest  woods  and  secrete 
himself  until  nightfall.     However,  it  can  scarcely  be 


120 


Racing  as  it  Was  and  Is. 


said  with  truth  that  suicides  in  consequence  of  turf 
losses  are  ever  heard  of. 

As  long-  ag-o  as  1856  there  were  in  Eng-land  about 
two  hundred  well  known  bookmakers.  There  was  one 
Harry  Hill  (could  he  have  been  our  Harry?)  who  was 
very  prominent  as  a  bookmaker  on  foals.  This  Harry 
Hill  had  a  $50,000  yearling,  and  laid  his  one  hundred, 
seventy-five  or  fifty  to  one  odd,  according-ly  as  he  fancied 
the  pedig-ree  of  the  yearling  he  laid  against. 

It  is  impossible  to  speak  with  any  degree  of  accur- 
acy as  to  what  bookmakers  win,  as  there  are  alwa3's 
so  many  canards  floating  about  as  to  books  and  win- 
nings, and  it  is  not  possible  to  draw  a  correct  conclu- 
sion as  to  what  portion  of  a  bookmaker's  winnings  are 
for  his  own  account,  and  what  portion  are  on  commis- 
sion. Of  course  such  prominent  firms  as  Kelly  &  Bliss, 
Cridge  &  Co. ,  and  other  large  sporting  men  of  New  York 
could  give  a  great  deal  of  valuable  information  if  they 
chose  to,  but  it  would  not  be  to  their  interest,  and  the 
public  would  not  be  likely  to  be  correctly  informed  if 
inquiry  were  made  by  the  press  or  for  public  infor- 
mation. 


121 


Retrospect.    Witb  Fox  zvnd  Houpd^, 
Here  Zii7<l  There. 


NO  little  credit  is  due  to  the  management  of  the 
various  fox  hunting-  clubs  m  the  United 
States,  for  the  persistency  with  which  they 
hang-  on  to  this  sport,  in  the  teeth  of  unkind 
and  unnecessary  opposition.  For  besides  the  un- 
questionable health  benefits  attending-  it,  and  the 
fatig-ue  in  the  open  air,  which  is  beneficial,  the  sport 
has  unquestionably  improved  horses  and  developed  a 
larg-e  percentag-e  of  g-ood  riders.  The  men  who  were 
originally  the  getters  up  of  these  hunts  were  Mr. 
Frank  Gray  Griswold,  Mr.  August  Belmont  Purdy, 
Robert  Center,  W.  C.  and  John  Sanford,  Elliot  Thorn- 
dike,  Mr.  Frost,  Ticehurst,  Grossman,  Mr.  Emmett, 
Charles  G.  Francklyn  of  the  Cunard  Steamship 
Company,  Mr.  Ludlow,  Stanley  Mortimer,  Mr.  Van 
Allen,  Mr.  William  Peet,  Frederick  Gebhard,  Griswold 
Lorillard,  P.  Lorillard,  Jr.,  Frank  Iselin,  (and  the 
writer).  The  leading  ladies  were  Mrs.  Purdy,  Mrs. 
C.  G,  Francklyn,  Miss  Oelrichs,  Miss  Peters,  Miss 
Morgan,Miss  Bispham  and  Miss  Belmont. 

There  were  not  very  large  fields  at  the  start,  but 
what  they  lacked  in  numbers  they  made  up  in  enthus- 
iasm. Mr.  Frank  Griswold,  on  his  favorite  chestnut 
hunter,  Mr.  Center  on  his  black  hunter,  Mr.  Zbor- 
owski  on  his  big  mare,  were  then  favorite  figures. 
Mr.  A.  Belmont,  Jr.,  on  His  Lordship,  a  small  but  very 
staunch  looking  horse,  Mr.  Lloyd  Bryce  (now  Con- 
gressman Bryce)  on  Resolute,  were  also  well  mounted. 
Mr.  Frederick  Gebhard  always  rode  well ;  he  was  a 
good  riding  figure  in  those  days,  and  a  lightweight. 


122  Retrospect.    With  Fox  and  Hounds, 

Fox  hunting-  is  one  of  the  sports  that  few  men  ever 
g-ive  up  when  once  the}^  have  started  in  it.  And  it  is 
the  only  pastime  in  which  the  element  of  chance  does 
not  encourag-e  gambling-.  In  that  particular  it  is  the 
very  essence  of  sport  for  g-entlemen. 

Sidney  Smith  wrote  to  the  mistress  of  Quorn  Hall 
in  the  days  of  its  hig-hest  renown:  "Do  persaude 
Mejmell  to  g-ive  up  the  chase.  He  has  been  hunting- 
the  fox  these  thirty  years,  but  human  glory  has  its 
limits."  All  of  which  was  with  about  as  much  effect 
as  when  Smith  preached  the  sermon,  "Smelling  of 
Sulphur,"  in  the  training  metropolis  of  Yorkshire. 
Men  ma}^  sicken  and  tire  of  racing  as  their  years  count 
up,  but  the  votaries  of  hound  and  hare  fondl}^  love  on 
to  the  close,  with  all  the  constancy  of  the  turtle  dove. 
The  great  nurseries  of  the  English  hunters  are  the 
Yorkshire  kidneys,  north  and  east,  and  Lincolnshire 
and  Shropshire. 

There  are  one  hundred  and  ninety  fairs  in  England 
that  dealers  visit.  Mr.  Collins,  of  London,  the  great 
dealer,  has  his  agents  out  everj^where  scouring  the 
country  for  good  horses.  He  is  the  leviathan  of  the 
trade  and  in  the  course  of  the  year  sells  about  eleven 
hundred  hunters  at  an  average  price  of  $400.  The 
French  dealers  also  buy  from  him,  such  men  as 
Benedick,  Cremieux,  Ancell,  etc.,  who  frequently  go 
as  high  as  $850  for  a  riding  horse,  which  is  a  big 
price  for  a  dealer  to  pay  anywhere.  Mr.  Levy  Law- 
son  of  the  London  Daily  Telegraphy  who  is  very 
fond  of  going  to  the  meet,  and  his  son  who  is  in 
Parliament,  purchase  their  horses  from  Collins,  fre- 
quently buying  eight  or  ten  hunters  at  a  time  and 
paying  as  much  as  ;^S00  apiece  for  them.  Collins 
like  Isaac  Dahlman,  of  New  York,  is  a  striking 
instance  of  what  honesty  can  do.  No  one  ever 
questions  his  word  and  if  the  appearance  of  the 
horses  that  he  sends  you  suit,  the  other  qualities,  such 


Retrospect.    With  Fox  and  Hounds.  123 

as  stamina,  soundness,  freedom  from  vices,  areassured 
without  an  examination  being-  necessary. 

The  cavalry  horses  of  Eng-land  are  supplied  by 
R.  Dyson  and  East  and  Phillips.  Hunters  in  Ireland 
(and  Ireland  is  the  place  of  all  others  for  them)  are 
g-iven  into  the  jumping  tutor's  hand  at  two  years  old. 
They  are  fitted  with  a  snaffle  and  surcingle  during- 
these  g-ymnastics,  one  man  leading-  while  ^  another 
follows  over  these  fences,  which  consist  principally  of 
hig-h  rotten  banks.  The  most  remarkable  Irish  hunter 
of  the  present  day  was  Assheton  Smith's  Fire-King-,  a 
sixteen-hand,  very  larg-e  limbed,  light-fleshed,  deep- 
girthed  thoroughbred  chestnut.  At  first  an  unman- 
ageable beast,  he  was  bought  for  $125.  But  he  beat 
all  Derbyshire,  and  no  other  horse  could  live  with  him. 
He  was  sold  shortly  after  for  $5,500,  and  the  man  who 
parted  with  him  said  if  he  could  afford  to  keep  him 
$10,000  would  not  induce  him  to  part  with  Fire-King. 

All  that  was  known  about  Fire-King's  pedigree 
was  that  he  came  from  Ireland  rejoicing  in  the  name 
of  The  Devil.  Every  one  who  had  mounted  him  had 
been  run  away  with.  Bad  tempered  brutes,  especially 
of  the  hunter  class,  become  often  prime  favorites  when 
they  are  cured  of  their  tempers.  Leo,  Mr.  Frederick 
Gebhard's  horse,  who  jumped  six  feet  seven  inches  a 
few  years  ago  at  Madison  Square  Garden  was  anything 
but  sweet  in  disposition.  He  was  the  blue  ribbon 
jumper  in  the  ring,  but  a  very  unpleasant  nag  to  ride 
m  the  hunting  field.  He  would  tear  off  madly  and 
nothing  but  a  windlass  could  hold  him.  Leo  jumped 
a  six-foot  paling  once  when  out  with  the  hounds  at 
Far  Rockaway,  a  spot  that  was  far  away  from  the  line 
of  scent  the  hounds  were  on,  and  then  pulled  for  a 
brook  and  jumped  plum  into  the  middle,  swimming 
with  his  rider  to  the  opposite  bank.  Mr.  Gebhard 
found  little  pleasure  with  Leo,  and  abandoned  riding 
to  hounds  with  him  shortly  after  this. 


124  Retrospect.    With  Fox  and  Hounds. 

Among-  the  most  wonderful  performers  on  steeple- 
chase courses  anywhere  in  the  world  Lord  Waterford's 
Blueskin  should  not  be  overlooked  ;  with  "  owner  up" 
and  at  all  weig-hts,  189  to  168  pound,  she  won  three 
four-mile  steeplechases  successively,  ag-ainst  fresh 
horses  at  Kg"ling-ton  Park  in  1843. 

Sir  Charles  Knightly's  leap  of  thirty-one  feet  over 
fence  and  brook  on  Benvolio  below  Brixworth  hill  was 
a  famous  one  also,  and  a  notable  performance.  Our 
hunting-  men  may  not  have  the  baronial  halls  to  ren- 
dezvous at,  but  they  have  what  is  better,  the  superb 
autumnal  weather  that  the  October  of  America  pro- 
duces ;  that  best  of  food,  the  brig-ht  cheer  of  unrivaled 
pretty  feminine  faces  and  sweet  voices  that  g-reet  them 
at  our  meets.  One  old  hunting-  man  at  Rufford,  England, 
aged  seventy,  had  eleven  tumbles  in  one  day  while 
hunting  with  Lord  Scarboro's  hounds,  and,  strange  to 
say,  led  off  with  a  Virginia  reel  at  a  dance  in  the 
evening. 

It  is  scarcely  probable  that  America  can  match 
him.  This  old  man's  name  was  Christian ;  he  was  a 
Christian  and  a  wit.  He  was  riding  just  behind  a 
parson,  when  the  parson's  horse  fell.  "You  can  lie 
just  where  you  are,  Parson  Pochin,"  said  he,  "You 
will  not  be  wanted  till  next  Sunday."  The  largest 
recorded  jump  over  land  was  through  a  bullfinch,  35>^ 
feet  from  take  off  to  landing.     This  was  at  Dalby. 


125 


CApipc^'  Fit)e  Points- 


ANNUAL    exhibitions   in    this    country    have 
taken  as  complete  a  hold  of  the  public  mind 
as  they  have  in  Great  Britain,  and  quite  as 
completely  as  the  old  time  favorite  attrac- 
tions.    At  the  recent  dog-  exhibitions  many  a  novice 
in  entering-  for  competition  felt  that  his  entry  should 
have  been  successful. 

' '  The  choice  of  points  is  a  purely  arbitrary  one, 
to  otherwise  reg-ard  it  (says  a  standard  authority), 
would  be  useless,  for  instance  in  toy  dogs  a  small  eye 
is  a  g-reat  merit  in  one  breed  (fox  terrier),  and  is  con- 
sidered a  defect  in  another  (King-  Charles'  spaniel).'' 

To  avoid  the  arbitrary  ruling-s  mentioned  a  series 
of  articles  was  published  by  judg-es,  connoisseurs, 
breeders  and  fanciers  describing-  each  breed  and  allot- 
ting- to  each  a  scale  of  points.  Subsequently  the 
matter  was  taken  up  by  the  National  Dog-  Club,  tak- 
ing- series  as  a  ground  work,  which  is  now  accepted, 
as  competent  and  well  defined  dog  law.  The  plan 
adopted  under  these  points  are  almost  universally 
accepted  in  Great  Britain. 

Of  that  noble  member  of  the  canine  family,  the 
St.  Bernard  so  highly  esteemed  by  all  Switzerland 
tourists,  the  highest  representative  of  the  family  up 
to  a  recent  period,  was  Tell,  described  by  one  of  the 
leading  authorities  as  follows: 

Tell  was  sired  by  Hero,  dam  Diana.  Hero  was  a 
descendant  of  the  famous  Barry.  Tell  measured  30>^ 
inches  high  at  shoulders  :  length  from  nose  to  tip  of 
tail,  7.0;  girth  of  chest,  0.36;  girth  of  arm,  0.13; 
weight,  147  pounds. 

The  highest  authorities  accord  to  pugs  the  fol- 
lowing description  as  indicative  of  prize  merit:     A 


126  Canines'  Fine  Points. 

pug"  prize  winner  should  have  puckered  forehead,  be 
of  fawn  or  putty  color,  devoid  of  smut  or  blackness; 
head  round,  forehead  hig-h,  short  nose,  level  teeth, 
full  black  eye,  small,  silky  black  ears,  close  to  the 
head  and  a  black  mole  with  three  hairs  in  it  on  each. 
The  neck  should  be  strong-  and  thick,  devoid  of  all 
loose  or  puckered  skin. 

As  all  to3^s  are  beautiful  by  comparison,  no  one 
can  accurately  form  a  correct  idea  of  a  dog"s'  relative 
value,  unless  he  is  pretty  well  informed  upon  the 
subject.  A  black  trace  running-  from  the  head  to  the 
tail  down  the  backbone  is  too  important  to  be  omitted 
in  closing  the  important  points  of  this  favorite  of 
ladies. 

It  might  be  remarked,  while  on  the  subject  of 
household  pets,  probably  the  most  intelligent  are  the 
Scotch  terrier  class,  and  when  not  bred  too  fine,  or 
confined  too  much  within  doors,  are  useful  to  an 
unusual  degree  as  destroyers  of  vermin,  and  an  unex- 
celled drawing  room  adornment.  The  Skye,  or 
Scotch,  should  not  have  too  silky  hair,  as  that  would 
indicate  too  close  an  alliance  with  the  poodle  blood. 
A  good  Skye  from  the  nose  to  the  tip  of  its  tail  should 
be  at  least  three  times  its  height  or  more.  In  a  well 
coated  species  its  eyes  should  be  concealed  and  the 
nose  may  be  obscured,  although  visible  on  close  in- 
spection. Kyes  should  be  small,  color  dark,  thick 
hair  on  ears  about  two  and  a  half  to  three  inches  long. 

There  has  developed  among  admirers  of  these 
dogs  a  penchant  for  prick  ears,  as  indicative  of  their 
being  harder  and  quicker  at  running;  they  should 
have  a  level  mouth,  with  large  black  nose.  Fouleys 
may  be  more  or  less  bandy,  feet  not  very  strong,  with 
a  tendency  to  flatness;  tail  carried  horizontally  with  a 
tendency  to  sweep,  so  that  the  tip  is  a  little  below  the 
level  of  the  back.  In  weight  they  may  be  found  10 
to  18  pounds.     Steel,  with  black  tips,  are  the  most 


Canines'  Fine  Points.  127 


fancied;  then  fawn,  dark  brown  tips  to  the  head  or 
tail;  then  dark,  slatey  blue,  slig-htly  g-rizzled,  without 
white;  then  black  and  pure  fawn  in  order  mentioned. 
The  hair  should  be  straig-ht,  silkiness  or  wooliness  or 
curl  avoided.  Excepting-  on  the  top  of  the  head,  it 
may  have  a  slight  tendency  to  the  first  named 
condition. 

Fox  terriers  are  enormously  in  fashion,  althoug-h 
the  use  which  called  them  into  being-,  hunting-  the 
cubs  of  foxes  out  of  their  burrows  in  the  g-round  and 
to  scatter  them  as  a  preliminary  to  the  pursuit  of  fox 
hunting-,  does  not  now  exist  here.  The  fox  terrier's 
head  should  be  flat  and  narrow,  growing-  wider  as 
nearing  the  ears,  jaw  strong,  clothed  well  with 
muscle^  mouth  also  level,  well  clothed  with  teeth, 
small  eyes,  keen  and  full  of  expression,  long  strong 
back  with  light  neck,  oblique  powerful  shoulders, 
quarters  and  thighs  also  muscular,  legs  and  feet 
strong  and  straight,  closely  resembling  the  foxhound, 
preponderance  of  white  in  color. 

Regarding  the  superb  animal,  the  pointer — which 
is  strictly  a  field  dog,  and  to  confine  him  to  a  city 
mansion  is  the  refinement  of  cruelty— the  head  should 
be  large,  not  heavy;  wide  across  the  ears,  head  long 
and  broad;  teeth  even  with  square  front  outline;  thin 
ears,  long  and  soft  ;  medium  eyes,  soft,  large  and  in- 
telligent. A  peculiarly  rounded  outline  on  the  upper 
side  of  the  neck  marks  the  pointer  being  well  bred 
from  others ;  broad,  deep  loin,  with  great  propelling 
power,  oblique  shoulders,  with  broad,  full  muscle;  full 
chest.  The  feet  and  legs  must  be  good.  A  dog  with 
a  great  deal  of  white  is  most  preferred,  as  easily  dis- 
tinguishable in  stubble  field. 

The  setter's  points  are  :  The  head  should  be 
somewhat  lighter  than  the  pointer,  nose  long,  with 
slight  tendency  to  fall  in  between  the  eyes;  the 
corners  about  3}i   inches  from  its  tip  to  4  inches; 


128  Canines'  Fine  Points. 

larg"e  open  nostrils  of  a  dark  color,  level  teeth,  ears 
about  6  inches,  low  set  and  well  forward;  eyes  larg-e 
and  melting-,  full  of  affection;  neck  long-  and  thin;  the 
feet  and  leg-s  should  resemble  the  pointer;  coat  fine 
and  silky. 

The  hair  should  be  soft  and  silky,  the  neck 
should  be  strong-  and  muscular,  shoulders  broad  and 
prominent,  chest  medium  depth,  broad,  well  devel- 
oped and  muscular;  body  and  loins  strong-  and  power- 
ful, loins  slightly  drooping  toward  root  of  tail.  Fore 
leg-s  strong-,  muscular,  straig-ht;  hind  leg-s  strong,  and 
bent  and  very  short  from  hock  to  foot;  feet  strong-  and 
round,  not  too  small,  and  well  feathered  between  the 
toes;  tail  thin  and  straight,  the  coat  wavy  and  silky, 
colors  black,  brown,  liver,  black  and  white,  liver  and 
white  and  lemon  and  white,  in  order  of  preference  as 
named. 

The  clumber  spaniel  until  comparatively  recent 
years  has  been  unknown  in  England,  excepting  in  the 
family  of  the  Duke  of  Newcastle.  This  is  a  dog  of 
about  45  lbs.  weight,  says  a  high  authority,  passion- 
ately fond  of  the  gun.  He  will  devotedly  follow  his 
master  with  the  gun,  but  scarcely  cares  to  endure 
fatigue  without  it.  They  are  extremely  intelligent, 
and  will  do  everything  but  talk.  The  head  should  be 
large  and  long,  eyes  large  and  thoughtful,  nose  and 
lips  liver  color,  back  long  and  straight,  chest  wide 
and  deep,  shoulders  thick  and  wide,  loins  straight  and 
strong,  legs  straight,  very  stout  and  strong,  stern  set 
low,  generally  docked,  but  if  so  should  be  left  eleven 
inches  long;  color  pale  true  lemon,  coat  soft,  shin}^, 
silky,  nearly  straight. 

The  cocker  spaniel  is  much  smaller  than  the 
clumber,  and  should  not  exceed  18  lbs.  in  weight  for 
female  and  29  lbs.  for  dogs.  They  may  be  of  any 
color,  more  or  less  marked  with  white.  The  head 
should  be  round  and  of  medium  length,  muzzle  wide 


Canines'  Fink  Points.  129 

and  well  developed  and  taper  slig^htly  close  to  the  end; 
the  eye  should  be  medium,  not  too  full;  the  ears 
should  measure  22  to  24  across  the  head. 

Those  who  love  their  household  pets  should 
endeavor  to  give  them  as  much  outdoor  air,  exercise 
and  life  as  possible.  Better  underfeed  than  overfeed 
them.  Fanciers  should  know  that  large,  wooly  dogs 
suffer  intensely  from  enforced  indoor  life  in  summer. 
Owners  should  endeavor  to  give  their  dogs  as  much 
of  the  life  proper  that  their  nature  and  Creator 
intended  they  should  have,  and  hot  city  streets  and 
confined,  carpeted  rooms  are  in  many  ways  a  great 
source  of  their  ill  health  and  positive  suffering. 

Wbip^  of  Higb  Degree. 


THERE  exists  in  these  days  quite  a  mania  for 
coaching,  as  can  be  readily  observed  by  stroll- 
ers along  Central  Park  and  nearby  country 
roads.  Not  by  any  means  are  the  only  drivers 
of  spanking,  four-in-hand  teams  written  about,  or  their 
names  read  in  the  public  press,  although  many,  inclu- 
ding Colonel  Kane's  name  have  gTown  historic.  To 
Captain  Kane,  wrongfully  called  Colonel,  is  truthfully 
ascribed  the  honor  of  reintroducing  coaching  to  this 
vicinity.  To  Delancey  Kane's  influence  we  owe  the 
presence  of  many  aspirants  of  the  whip  and  gaudy, 
high-stepping  teams  that  call  back  the  memory  of  the 
days  when  coaching  was  in  its  glory.  Excepting 
Captain  Kane,  there  are  few  here  who  ever  really 
worked  a  coach,  by  night  and  by  day,  through  mud 
and  rain,  frost  and  snow,  and  who  have  really  done 


130  Whips  of  High  Degree. 

the  thing"  rough  and  smooth.  Besides  the  Captain's 
team,  a  tour  through  the  Park  on  almost  any  of  these 
lovely  autumn  afternoons  will  show  four  handsome 
bays,  the  wheelers  standing  about  sixteen  hands  and 
leaders  fifteen  and  a  half,  neatly  handled  by  Theodore 
A.  Havemeyer,  with  Mrs.  Turnbull  one  day,  or  Mrs. 
Helyar  another,  or  upon  another  occasion  Miss  Susanne 
Bancroft,  and  accompanying  the  party,  one  can  fre- 
quently find  Mr.  Woodbury  Kane,  Elliot  Gregory  and 
Mr.  Tom  Howard  there. 

In  the  present  mode  of  travelling",  comfortable 
and  expeditious  as  it  is,  there  is  little  of  the  amuse- 
ment there  formerly  was  on  the  road.  The  tea  kettle 
with  its  steam  has  taken  the  place  of  the  four  bright 
bays,  the  grimy  engine  driver  and  stoker  the  place  of 
the  coachman.  When  the  old  time  masterly  hands  of 
Mr.  Frederick  Bronson  are  seen  curving  a  circle  in  the 
Park  one  knows  that  an  artist's  hand  is  there.  Mr. 
Bronson  always  tools  some  good  egg-stepping,  high- 
actioned  cattle  of  good  form,  and  can  be  seen  fre- 
quently with  such  lovers  of  open  air  pleasures  as  Mrs. 
Bronson,  W.  B.  Cutting  and  Cornelius  Vanderbilt. 

Mr.  Frederick  Bronson  knows  how  notes  should 
be  sounded  on  the  horn,  and  with  the  tune  of  the 
*'  Old  Mail  Horn  "  he  is  familiar.^ 

Mr.  Bronson's  favorite  team  is  one  of  bay  wheel- 
ers and  bay  leaders,  with  white  feet. 

Mr.  E.  M.  Padelford  is  an  enthusiastic  whip,  and, 
like  Mr.  Bronson,  drives  all  bays.  He  frequently  has 
with  him  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Adolph  Ladenburg,  Mr.  T. 
Howard,  Mrs.  Burke-Roche  and  Miss  Jeanne  Turnure. 

Colonel  Jay,  with  bay  wheelers  and  gray  off 
leader  and  chestnut  near  leader,  presents  a  very  pleas- 
ing appearance.  The  Colonel  frequently  takes  with 
him  Mr.  and  Mrs.  J.  W.  Waterbury,  Miss  Post  and 
E.  L.  Winthrop,  Jr. ,  who  share  with  Colonel  Jay  his 
enthusiasm  for  the  road. 


"Whips  of  High  Degree.  131 

Few  coachmen  of  the  present  day  have  any  idea 
of  what  a  coach  load  of  former  days  was,  and  unless 
there  to  see,  would  have  no  idea  of  what  a  load  there 
was  to  carry.  There  were  tv/elve  outside  and  four 
inside,  exclusive  of  the  coachman  and  g-uard,  the  fore 
boot  and  the  hind  ones  were  packed  with  parcels,  and 
the  top  was  piled  as  high  as  bridges  would  allow  with 
boxes,  bundles,  gun  cases,  hampers  and  every  de- 
scription of  luggage  for  the  sixteen  people  who  were 
inside  and  out.  All  the  freight  was  covered,  with  tar- 
paulin and  tied  down  with  straps  ;  it  was  wonderful 
to  behold  and  hard  to  imagine  how  it  could  all  be 
stowed  away.  Game  baskets  and  game  would  be 
hung  to  the  very  lamps  themselves.  Kven  under  the 
very  coach  there  would  be  swung  a  "cradle,"  into 
which  various  things  which  could  not  go  elsewhere 
would  be  put. 

There  are  many  old  fashioned  sayings  in  coach- 
ing which  are  always  found  useful  even  to  this  day, 
and  under  our  modern  progressive  four-in-hand  driv- 
ing.    Enumerated  they  are  : 

First — Never  get  into  a  mess  if  you  can  keep  out 
of  one,  but  if  you  do  get  into  one  get  out  of  it  well. 

Second — Discretion  is  the  better  part  of  valor. 

Third — Should  you  come  to  grief  with  one  of 
your  horses  be  prepared  to  drive  a  unicorn  team;  carry 
a  small  bar  with  you,  with  the  eye  or  ring  set  con- 
trary way,  it  will  then  hang  properly. 

Fourth — Always  carry  a  spare  chain  trace  in  the 
boot.  And  it  is  among  the  old  unwritten  coaching 
laws  to  refrain  from  using  a  larger  whip  than  5  feet 
lyi  inches,  and  for  the  thong  12  feet  6  inches.  Any- 
thing beyond  that  is  in  the  way. 

To  learn  to  catch  your  whip — if  too  awkward  to 
be  taught  otherwise— put  a  chair  on  a  table,  harness 
four  chairs  together,  plait  some  whip  cord  to  a  fish- 
ing rod,  and  make   a  thong  as  long  as  your  stick,  and 


132  Whips  of  High  Degre:e. 

then  learn  to  hit  your  horses  all  around.  Catch  your 
thong-  and  hit  your  wheelers,  then  untwist  and  hit 
your  leaders,  first  on  the  off  side  and  then  on  the  near. 

Never  divide  your  reins;  if  you  do  you  will  have 
to  get  another  hand  to  hold  your  whip,  and  another 
if  you  are  required  to  use  your  break. 

In  g-oing  down  a  steep  hill  if  you  do  not  have  a 
brake  on  your  coach,  or  if  you  have  one  and  it  does 
not  operate  well,  seek  out  a  bit  of  gravel  at  the  side. 
Many  a  piece  of  g-ravel  has  prevented  a  coach  heap- 
ing- on  top  of  the  wheelers,  and  mixing  up  things  at 
the  bottom  of  the  hill;  or  "mixing-  biscuits,"  as  the 
saying-  is. 

And  the  last  but  not  least  hint  is,  always  g-o 
round  your  horses  and  see  for  yourself  that  everything- 
is  all  rig-ht.  Never  depend  upon  any  coachman  you 
may  have,  no  matter  how  good  a  fellow  he  may  be. 
You  may  not  have  him  always  with  you,  and  it  should 
be  part  of  a  gentleman  whip's  business  to  be  able  to 
teach  any  man  he  may  have  in  his  employ  how  to  do 
or  how  not  to  do  anything  in  his  line.  Always  have 
an  apron  on  your  box  and  a  petticoat.  It  is  better  to 
hide  those  pretty  feet,  much  admired  in  a  ball  room, 
but  not  pretty  on  the  outside  of  a  coach.  Sit  straight 
on  your  box,  your  hands  well  down,  your  shoulders 
well  back,  your  head  erect  and  your  eyes  well  in  front 
of  you.  There  are  many  of  my  readers,  old  coach- 
ing men,  who  will  recall  the  lines  : 

"  Thoug-h  the  coachmen  of  old  are  dead, 
Though  the  guards  are  turned  to  clay, 
Who  will  still  remember  the  3^ard  of  tin, 
And  the  mail  of  the  olden  day," 

and  to  them  as  well  as  to  our  modern  coachers  these 
lines  are  committed,  with  the  hope  that  they  may  be 
interesting. 


133 


Our  SociSil  SHeletor)^- 


PROBABLY  no  one  is  entirely  satisfied  with  his 
lot.  Discontent  is  human.  What  one  man 
possesses,  with  discontent,  becomes  a  source 
of  env}'  to  another.  One  man  is  a  great 
statesman  and  wishes  he  were  an  author  with  world- 
wide repute.  The  brave  soldier  with  valiantly  won 
decorations  is  indifferent  to  the  laurels  his  sword  has 
won  for  him  and  is  solicitous  for  the  rank  of  a  g-reat 
musician.  The  g-reat  lawyer  holds  his  briefs  con- 
temptuously and  deplores  the  fact  of  his  not  being- 
successful  at  the  shrine  of  Cupid,  like  Richelieu,  who 
was  far  prouder  of  his  boudoir  accomplishments  than 
he  was  of  his  abilities  as  a  statesman. 

The  literary  man  prefers  to  be  of  the  world  _  of 
fashion,  and  to  be  the  g-lass  of  form,  rather  than  receive 
the  compliments  his  manuscripts  evoke  and  the  literary 
set's  applause.  The  millionaire,  with  his  wealth  of 
railroads  and  the  mass  of  toilers  at  his  beck  or  com- 
m.and,  holds  them  in  lig-lit  estimation,  and  would 
gfladly  bestow  a  part  of  them  on  some  unfortunate  blue 
blood  of  unquestionable  lineag-e  if  an  exchang-e  could 
be  effected.  Thus  we  see  eminent  clerg-ymen  who 
would  like  to  be  g-reat  statesmen;  eminent  lawyers 
who  would  like  to  be  anything-  but  what  they  are,  and 
so  on.  Few  men  are  content  with  their  condition,  but 
envy  every  other  man  whom  luck  has  g-iven  a  different 
state  and  different  pursuits. 

In  this  brig:ht  world  no  one  is  completely  happy, 
and  none  are  thoroughly  contented  with  their  lot.  No 
matter  how  happy  any  one  may  appear  to  be,  that 
person  is  not  completely  happy  with  his  fate.  And  as 
a  g-eneral  rule  all  those  who  would  have  the  world 


134  Our  Sociai.  Skei<ETons. 

think  they  are  completely  satisfied  are  the  very  ones 
who  are  the  least  so,  and  only  succeed  in  making- 
envious  acquaintances  dislike  them  and  drop  their 
familiar  association,  perhaps  for  no  other  reason 
than  their  inability  to  counterfeit  contentment  success- 
fully- 

How  man}^  men  are  silent  victims  to  social  dys- 
pepsia, to  coin  an  expression ;  how  many  wives  make 
their  husband's  home  lives  unbearable  from  this  dis- 
ease ?  Then,  again,  the  favorite  son  g-oes  to  the  bad ; 
there  is  some  social  scandal  to  be  sacredly  hidden. 
Thus  in  every  well-furnished  house  you  can  find  a 
closet  in  which  some  skeleton  is  concealed,  and  the 
attenuated  specter  is  likely  to  walk  down  stairs  un- 
bidden at  any  moment.  How  often  we  meet  the  lady 
of  the  next  house  who  is  anxious  to  pass  herself  off  as 
the  choicest  Chateau  Lafite  when  she  is  the  merest  vin 
ordinaire.  Or  that  well-dressed  swell,  who  is  so  poorly 
furnished  in  the  upper  story,  who  requires  a  crutch 
behind  his  car  to  prop  his  brains  up  ;  well,  what  of 
him  ?  He  is  the  thinnest  of  vintag-es.  Then,  again, 
there  is  the  most  blue-blooded  among-  us  ;  he  is  fearful 
that  the  purity  of  his  g-enealog-ical  tree  will  some  day 
be  questioned  and  the  legitimacy  of  his  descent  be 
doubted. 

It  has  often  been  said,  and  w^ell  said,  "  If  j'ou 
wish  to  conceal  anj^thing  from  the  public  eye,  expose 
it ;  conceal  it,  and  it  will  be  criticised  before  3^ou  are 
many  da3'S  older." 

There  are  several  ways  of  getting-  into  good  so- 
ciety. If  you  are  a  young  man  without  an}^  scandal 
attaching  to  your  name,  yon  should  not  have  much 
difficulty.  If  3^ou  ride  horseback  well,  and  can  assist 
a  young  lady  to  a  good,  graceful  seat,  she  will  soon 
seek  your  advice  in  a  riding  academy  or  upon  the 
road.  If  you  sing  well,  let  it  be  known  ;  a  g'ood  tenor 
voice  is  always   keenly   appreciated   in  the  drawing" 


Our  Sociatv  Skeletons.  135 

room,  and  the  doors  of  houses  will  he  open  to  you  that 
otherwise  would  be  closed.  An  amusing-  talker  will 
not  find  himself  long-  without  his  leg-s  under  the  ma- 
hog-any  in  most  desirable  dining-  rooms.  Music,  comic 
songs,  a  talent  for  dancing-,  mimicry,  conjuring-,  ven- 
triloquism, are  all  means  to  an  end.  Whatever  is  the 
rag-e  of  the  day  in  3'cur  period,  that  adopt.  It  takes 
too  much  time  to  educate  societ}'  up  to  your  ideas  of 
what  should  please  ;  rather  axlopt  theirs.  In  one  sense 
society  is  commercial  ;  3^ou  are  welcomed  for  what  you 
can  bring-  to  it.  You  g^et  your  dinners  out  of  society 
and  society  g-ets  what  amusement  it  can  out  of  you. 

Never  hover  between  the  social  spheres;  belong-  to 
one  or  the  other  ;  otherwise  misery  is  your  lot.  Take 
that  forlorn  creature,  the  imitation  dude,  sauntering- 
out  of  Delmonico's  on  a  Saturday  afternoon,  and  see 
what  a  miserable  creation  he  is.  It  is  true,  his  tailor, 
his  hatter  and  bootmaker  have  made  him  an  agreeable 
figure,  but  his  viev/s  and  sentiments  belie  the  name  of 
gentleman.  To  rank  or  people  in  a  higher  sphere  he 
is  prepared  to  pardon  every  shortcoming,  and  so  long 
as  men  and  women  are  born  in  the  purple  he  exten- 
uates every  vice  they  commit.  Birth  and  all  the  sur- 
rounding's of  fashion  he  worships  as  only  one  of  the 
middle  class  ca^n,  to  v/hich  he  belongs.  He  is  a  dude 
pure  and  simple.  "Blood  "  is  to  him  religion,  honor, 
principle,  all  that  hoKor,  truth  and  morality  are  to 
other  men.  Pie  does  not  especially  respect  rank,  but 
he  enslaves  himself  to  its  adulation. 

The  son  of  a  very  fashionable  man,  if  a  drunkard, 
is  faultless  ;  the  daughter  of  some  one  he  considers  in 
a  high  social  station  is  a  beauty,  even  though  she  be 
as  ugly  and  hideous  as  can  be  conceived.  He  detests 
every  class  but  the  one  he  does  not  belong  to,  and  into 
which  he  cannot  gain  admittance — that  is  the 
dude  or  his  imitator.  He  will  subscribe  to  any 
charity  with    freedom  if  he  can    see    his    name  in 


136  Our  Sociai.  Skelktons. 

public  print,  with  the  hig-h  social  ones  surrounding 
his ;  but  for  any  charity  more  deserving-  but  less 
fashionable  you  mig-ht  as  well  try  to  draw  blood 
from  a  stone.  He  will  lose  his  money  with  com- 
placency to  swells  at  cards  and  on  turf  betting. 
He  will  save  his  money  and  deny  himself  neces- 
sities to  invite  some  swell  g-irl  to  Delmonico's  on  the 
slig-htest  encourag-ement.  He  is  a  perfect  walking- 
encyclopedia  of  fashionable  dinners,  balls  and  events, 
and  vv^ill  even  stoop  to  be  familiar  with  feminine  fash- 
ions to  please  and  cring-e  to  the  swell  swim  he  is  in  for 
the  moment.  You  can  find  him  taking-  off  his  hat  to 
passing-  carriag-es  of  well-appointed  teams,  whose 
occupants  any  careful  observer  will  notice  decline  to 
recog-nize  the  salutation.  In  short,  to  use  a  slang- 
expression,  "the  woods  are  full"  of  these  abject  faw- 
ners, in,  whose  society  the  dude  is  only  happy  where 
the  set  can  bolster  up  his  social  position. 

When  the  young-  men  and  ladies  of  fashion  hang- 
around  the  halls  of  the  assemblies  or  the  Patriarchs, 
how  this  toady  covets  their  joys,  and  dwells  upon  the 
gossip  of  these  leaders,  who  talk  naturally  of  the 
swell  people  they  know,  and  who  do  not  seem  to  be 
impressed  by  the  invitations  they  have  received — why 
should  the}-,  being-  of  them?  If  the  veritable  Ofd 
Nick  himself  v/ere  to  make  the  dude  an  offer  for  his 
soul  in  exchang-e  for  an  unquestionable  social  position, 
I  believe  the  dude  and  his  sister  (for  the  dude  always 
has  a  dudine  accompaniment  v/ho  is  quite  as  bad  in 
her  way,  if  not  worse),  they  would  barter  their  souls 
for  social  progress.  Careful  examination  of  the  dude 
and  dudine's  birthplace  compels  one  in  all  candor  to 
allot  Philadelphia  as  the  spot  they  first  saw  the  light, 
and  New  York  developed  the  plant  with  hothouse 
rapidity.  The  American  article  has  all  the  tricks  of 
his  English  cousin  in  imposition,  the  servile  admira- 
tion, the  deference  for  titles,  contempt  of  the  lowly 


Our  Sociai,  Skei.etons. 


137 


and  the  lack  of  mental  characteristics  like  his  English 
relation.  The  father  of  the  dude  and  his  sister  has 
reason  to  have  contempt  for  his  productions.  But  the 
son  should  have  pride  for  his  father  and  the  daughter 
for  her  mother,  for  they  are  worthy  people  of  good 
origin.  The  father  has  founded  a  good,  substantial 
business,  and  surrounded  his  home  circle  with  all  lux- 
ury. This  dude  and  dudine  will  not  marry  in  their 
own  set  and  frequently  are  not  rich  enough  to  marry 
out  of  it.  The  only  satisfaction  the  public  get  out 
of  the  dude  affliction,  that  is  to  say,  the  presence  of 
the  dudine  and  the  dude,  is  the  knowledge  that 
hypocrisy  and  show  precede  unhappiness,  ciii  bono  ? 

The  dude  and  dudine  are  really  snobs,  and  if  they 
only  knew  they  were  of  the  plutocracy,  then  they 
might  make  excellent  matrimonial  alliances,  and  the 
extent  of  their  means  not  inquired  into,  in  the  appro- 
priate set  they  belong  to,  they  would  then  find  that, 
perhaps  the  doors  of  fashionable  villas  would  not  be 
slammed  in  their  faces.  The  dude  and  dudine  should 
not  grasp  at  a  shadow,  but  clasp  the  substance,  then 
so  many  7nauvais  quart  d'heures  would  not  be  passed. 


138 

Stories  frorn  tbe  ^iZibl^s* 


THE  racing-  world  is  always  interested  to  learn 
of  anything-  of  interest  to  it,  and  the  horses 
and  their  surroundings  will  always  attract 
their  attention.  In  no  section  of  society  is 
the  desire  for  information  more  widespread.  The 
movements  and  intentions  of  the  Lorillards,  Cassatts, 
Scotts,  Withers  and  company  are  eagerly  devoured, 
especially  at  this  season,  when  the  owners,  trainers 
and  jockeys  have  little  else  to  do  but  kindle  warmth 
in  the  stables  and  sit  by  and  see  their  equine  company 
g-row  large  and  stout  of  bone  and  muscle.  It  would  be 
difficult  for  anyone  to  add  a  quota  to  the  mass  of  gen- 
eral information  on  racing-  matters  that  may  be  gleaned 
by  resorting-  to  that  veritable  college  of  horse  lore  the 
St.  James  Hotel,  and  other  equally  important  but  less 
widely  known  rendezvous  in  this  city. 

The  Marquis  of  Hastings'  purchase  from  Mr. 
Padwick  for  ;£"11,000,  of  Kangaroo,  who  was  the  sen- 
sational horse  of  Newmarket,  is  one  of  the  subjects 
discussed  now.  This  was  the  hig-hest  price  g-iven  for 
a  three-year-old  in  this  or  any  other  country.  Mr. 
Padwick  was  originally  a  butcher,  and  for  his  love  of 
racing-  g-reatly  resembled  the  Dwyers.  Padwick  was 
the  most  successful  man  on  the  turf  in  his  day,  and 
was  one  of  the  examples  of  an  exalted  rise  from  such 
an  origin.  He  was  afterward  a  lawyer,  then  became 
magistrate  and  deputy  lieutenant  of  his  county,  and 
appeared  at  the  great  Exhibition  of  1851,  at  which  in 
his  official  position,  he  was  in  attendance  on  Prince 
Albert.  Padwick  was  adjudged  a  salesman  without 
an  equal  for  having-  g-ot  rid  of  three  horses  in  training 
for  the  extraordinary  sum  of  ;£22,000,  or  an  average 
of  ^7,333  each.  Not  alone  was  he  incomparable  for 
the  sums  received,  but  for  the  opportune  time  selected 


Stories  From  the  Stabiles.  139 

in  parting-  with  them.     With  all  his  acumen  Padwick 
was  not  a  good  judge  of  racing. 

Lord  George  Bentick  aspired  to  the  laudable  pur- 
pose of  benefitting-  the  turf,  but  it  is  questionable  if 
his  career  entitled  him  to  such  a  constuction.  It  was 
credited  to  him  that  he  invented  a  bridle  having-  a  long 
point,  reaching  nearly  to  the  orifice  of  the  gullet,  for 
the  purpose  of  making-  a  horse  cough  when  wearing- 
it.  This  had  the  effect  of  making  a  healthy  horse 
appear  affected  with  a  severe  cold.  This  instrument 
resembles  in  shape  the  bridle  known  as  Lord  George's, 
a  remarkably  good  one  for  strong,  hard  pullers.  It 
will  stop  any  horse  in  the  least  possible  time,  whether 
on  the  race  course  or  anywhere  else.  Lord  Bentick 
ran  a  horse  under  his  control  named  Red  Deer,  which 
started  at  seven  to  one,  and  was  nowhere.  Bentick 
laid  ^7,000  to  ^2,000  against  his  own  horse  ;  this  at 
least  in  our  day  would  be  looked  upon  with  grave  sus- 
picion. Lord  Bentick  was  once  confederated  with  Mr. 
C.  C.  Greville.  In  the  year  1834,  they  owned  a  very 
fine  mare  called  Preserve,  who  won  all  her  two-year-old 
engagements,  and  was  a  g-reat  favorite  the  following 
year  for  the  Oaks. 

To  assist  in  driving-  her  back  in  the  betting,  the 
following-  well-devised  stratag-em  was  hit  upon,  which 
is  quite  novel :  Her  nostrils  were  painted  inside  and 
out  with  starch,  flour  and  coloring  matter  resembling- 
mucus — a  perfectly  harmless  mixture  in  itself,  which 
could  be  easily  removed  on  returning-  to  the  stable. 
Then  they  g-ave  out  that  she  was  suffering-  from  in- 
fluenza, and  their  design  was  successfully  carried  out. 
But  the  biter  was  bit,  for  she  was  beaten  by  The  Queen 
of  Trumps,  and  Lord  George  was  a  very  heavy  loser. 

Lord  George  Bentick  had  a  horse  called  Ratsbane 
(called  so  because  he  would  catch  and  kill  every  rat 
that  came  within  reach  of  his  teeth).  Ratsbane  ran  a 
race  in  a  dense  fog-  at  Brighton  and  v^ras  a  winner,  but 


140  Stories  From  the  Stabiles. 

at  the  scales  it  was  objected  to  because  it  was  claimed 
he  went  the  wrong-  side  of  a  post.  The  stewards  set 
aside  the  objection  and  awarded  him  the  race.  After 
rendering-  the  decision  they  reconsidered  it  and  reversed 
themselves  owing-  to  a  protest  of  one  Toby  Wakefield 
(facetiously  known  as  the  Vicar),  who  came  up  on  Sir 
John  and  claimed  the  race,  he  having-  in  it  bolted  to 
some  neig-hboring  villag-e.  He  declared  he  was  the 
only  one  who  had  g-one  the  rig-ht  course.  Why  the 
stewards  should  have  reversed  themselves  no  one  could 
ever  explain.  Lord  Georg-e  had  his  jockey  sent  up  to 
his  lawyers  in  London  to  swear  he  went  the  rig-ht 
course.  This  the  jockey  would  not  do,  as  he  (the 
jockey)  said  he  could  not  swear  to  having-  done  so,  as 
the  darkness  and  the  fog-  were  almost  impenetrable. 
Lord  Bentick  had  a  detestation  of  duelling-.  Never- 
theless he  was  oblig-ed  to  g-o  out  once  and  fig-ht  with 
one  Squire  Osbardston.  The  quarrel  orig-inated  in  a 
betting-  transaction  at  Heaton  Park.  The  cause  of  it 
was  Osbardston  riding-  up  to  Bentick  at  Heaton  Park 
and  saying,  "I  want  ;^400  won  of  you  at  Heaton 
Park."  To  this  the  reply  was  :  "  You  want  ^400  you 
swindled  me  out  of  at  Heaton  Park."  Of  course  such 
a  rejoinder  would  not  admit  of  apolog-y,  and  the  usual 
preliminary  arrangements  were  made  to  fight  a  duel. 
It  fell  to  Lord  George's  lot  to  fire  first.  His  pistol 
missed  fire,  and  without  the  least  show  of  excitement, 
he  said  to  his  adversary:  "Now,  Squire,  it  is  two  to 
one  in  your  favor."  "  Is  it  ?  "  said  his  opponent. 
"Why,  then,  the  bet's  off,"  and  discharges  his  pistol 
in  the  air. 

The  magnitude  of  Mr.  Pierre  Lorillard's  (the 
senior's)  establishment  at  Rancocas,  Burlington 
County,  N.  J.,  has  certainly  never  been  equaled  in 
this  country,  and  the  question  has  often  been  discussed 
and  the  question  asked,  if  there  were  any  abroad  to 
compare  with  it.     There  have  been  and  are   (but  not 


Stories  From  the  Stabi.es.  141 

many).  "  Revenons."  As  a  specimen  idea  of  Lord  Bent- 
ick's  the  following- is  interesting:  In  1840,  at  Good- 
wood, there  were  thirty-one  races  and  three  walk-overs 
in  four  days.  In  these  his  Lordship  had  horses  in  twenty- 
eig-ht.  In  the  twenty-eig-ht  races  he  started  as  many 
as  forty-four  times,  three  horses  some  times  running- 
in  one  race — in  the  Goodwood  stakes,  where  none  of 
them  were  placed.  He  won  eight  races  only.  It  is 
difficult  to  remember  any  man  in  this  country  having 
run  so  many  races  with  such  poor  results. 

Lord  Bentick  was  somewhat  eccentric,  to  say  the 
least,  in  everything  he  undertook.  Bookmakers  in 
this  country  would  have  been  in  open  rebellion  against 
him  if  they  had  to  deal  with  such  difficulties  as  he 
gave  them  in  the  nomenclature  of  his  thoroughbreds, 
as  Black  Gentleman,  Coal  Black  Rose,  Devil  to  Pay, 
Put  on  the  Pot  Says  Greedy  Gut,  Devil  Me  Care,  Such 
a  Getting  Upstairs,  Here  I  Go  with  My  Eye  Out,  Stop 
Awhile  Says  Slow,  To  Bed,  to  Bed,  Says  Sleepy  Head, 
All  Around  My  Hat.  When  fate  is  illy  inclined 
toward  racing  men  it  seems  to  hit  them  particularly 
hard,  because  there  does  not  appear  to  be  any  limit  to 
the  indulgences  of  their  era  of  prosperity. 

The  following  anecdote  will  show  to  what  a  point 
they  are  sometimes  driven.  Mr.  John  Dilly  was  a 
trainer  and  a  curious  character,  always  impecunious 
and  extravagant.  Dilly  wrote  in  the  name  of  a 
"  Mutual  Friend  "  in  a  disguised  hand  and  said  : — 

"Dear  Sir  :— I  am  sorry  to  inform  you  that  your 
dear  brother  has  departed.  He  left  life  this  morning 
without  a  struggle.  Feeling  sure  you  would  like  to 
see  him  have  a  decent  burial,  I  have  given  instruc- 
tions to  the  undertaker  to  see  this  carried  out.  I  think 
the  expense  will  be  about  ;^30 ;  but  if  you  will  send 
me  your  check  for  £2S  ($125)  I  will  get  the  accounts 
and  send  them  to  you  as  soon  as  the  funeral  is  over. 


142 


Stories  From  the  Stabi.es. 


I  hope  you  will  not  think  me  officious  in  this  matter, 
and  if  there  is  anything  else  you  wish  to  have  done, 
please  let  me  know  and  I  will  attend  to  it. 

"  Yours  faithfully,  William  Smallbody. 

"To  Montgomery  Dilly,  Esq.,  Littleton." 

A  check  was  duly  forwarded  with  a  letter  thank- 
ing the  mutual  friend  for  his  kind  interference.  It 
was  duly  received  and  acknowledged  by  "Mr.  Small- 
body."  Mr.  Montgomery  Dilly,  Mr.  W.  Dilly  and  their 
two  sisters  went  into  deep  mourning  for  their  departed 
brother.  To  the  great  surprise  of  the  first-named 
gentleman,  on  his  visiting  Newmarket  a  few  weeks 
after,  who  should  he  come  upon  but  his  brother,  John, 
still  in  the  flesh,  alive  and  hearty.  Naturally  the  one 
brother  upbraided  the  other  for  his  heartless  deceit. 
To  this  poor  John  replied  : — 

"Ah,'Gamery,  I  knew  you  would  not  send  me  any 
thing  to  keep  me  alive  ;  but  I  thought  you  might  to 
see  me  safely  under  ground." 


143 

Dining  ^i  tbe  Clubs. 


THE  establishment  of  the  club  system  has  caused 
a  great  revolution  in  the  domestic  lives  of 
men.     Married  men,  accustomed  to  the  refined 
and  luxurious  mode  of  existence   in  a   club, 
endeavor   to  reproduce   its  eleg-ance  and  perfections 
within  their  own  homes,  as  far  as  their  means  will 
permit. 

The  revised  and  recently  reduced  menu  of  one   of 
our  best  clubs  is  as  follows : 

OYSTERS  AND  CLAMS. 

Blue  Points,  15.  Little  Neck,  10.  Large   Rockaways,  20. 

Clam  juice,  15.  Lynn  Haven,  20. 

POTAGES. 

Lamb's  Feet  a  I'Anglaise,  20,  30.  Cream  of  Cauliflower,  20,  30. 

Consomme  Princesse,  15,  25. 

HORS  DCEUVRES. 

Saucisson  de  Lyon,  20.  French  or  Spanish  Olives,  15,  Radishes,  15. 

Anchovies,  25.        Sardines,  20.        Celery,  20.        Stuffed  Olives,  25. 

POISSONS. 

Broiled  Chicken  Halibut  with  Anchovy  Butter,  40. 

Boiled  Codfish,  eg-g-  sauce,  35.     Fried  Perch,  tartar  sauce,  35. 

Stuffed  Oysters,  25,  45.     Stuffed  Clams,  25,  45. 

PLAT  DU  JOUR. 
Broiled  Breast  of  Lamb  with  celery,  45. 

ENTREES. 

Filet  Pique  with  Brussels  sprouts,  85. 

Half  Spring  Chicken  saute  a  la  Maryland,  60. 

Veal  Chops  with  macaroni,  Milanaise,  45. 

Lamb's  Feet  a  la  poulette,  30. 

Broiled  Yellow  Leg  Snipe  on  toast  with  cresses,  60. 

Cauliflower  au  gratin,  30. 

ROTI. 
Beef,  25,  45.  Spring  Turkey,  cranberry  sauce,  60. 

GAME,  ROAST  OR  BOILED. 

Squab,  50.      Redhead  Duck,  $1.75.     Snipe,  40.     Canvasback  Duck,  $2.50. 

Teal  Duck,  60.  Partridge,  90.  Woodcock,  90. 

Spring  Chicken,  50,  $1.00.  Quail,  SO. 


144 


Dining  at  the  Clues. 


COLD  DISHES, 

Galantine  with  truffles,  70. 

Ham,  30.  Tongue,  30.  Spring  Lamb,  50.  Turkey,  30,  55. 

Spring-  Chicken,  50,  $1.00.        Corned  Beef,  30. 
Westphalia  Ham,  30.  Pate  de  Foie-gras,  $1.00,  half,  55. 

LEGUMES. 
Potatoes,  15.  Spinach,  20.  Egg  Plant,  25. 

String  Beans,  25,  French  Peas,  30. 

Stuffed  Tomatoes,  30. 
Onions,  25.  Brussels  Sprouts,  30. 


Stewed  Tomatoes,  25. 
Sweet  Potatoes,  20. 

Cauliflower,  30. 


Cucumbers,  30. 

Escarole,  25. 


SALADES. 
Romaine,  25.  Chicken,  40,  70.  Lettuce,  25. 

Lobster,  50.  Celery,  25. 

Chicory,  25. 


FROMAGES. 
Gruyere,  10.  Camembert,  20.  Stilton,  15. 

ENTREMETS  SUCRE. 
Meringue  a  la  Creme. 


Gorgonzola,  20. 


Apples,  10.  Pears,  15. 

Pineapple,  15. 


FRUITS. 

Grapes,  10. 


Bananas,  15. 


Oranges,  15. 


CAFE  NOIR,  10. 


Of  the  wine  list  there  are  twenty-three  brands  of 
champagne.  Red  Bordeaux,  twenty-eight  growths, 
ranging  from  45  cents  per  quart  to  $3.75  per  quart ; 
white  Bordeaux,  seven  growths,  from  60  cents  to  $2.50 
quart  bottle  ;  red  Burgundy,  twenty-one  growths,  from 
85  cents  to  $3.75  quart  bottle  ;  white  Burgundy,  seven 
growths,  from  $1  to  $4  quart  bottle  ;  Rhine  and  Mosel, 
twenty-nine  growths,  from  75  cents  to  $10.25  quart 
bottle  ;  Hungarian,  five  kinds,  from  $1.25  to  $4.20 
quart  bottle  ;  sherry,  nine  kinds,  from  50  cents  to  $3 
quart  bottle  ;  Mediera,  seven  kinds,  from  $2.20  to  $10 
quart  bottles  ;  port,  four  kinds,  from  80  cents  to  $2.75  ; 
liquors  and  cordials,  twelve  kinds  ;  cider,  two  kinds  ; 
malt  liquors,  seven  kinds ;  mineral  waters,  twenty 
kinds  ;  liquors,  ten  kinds,  and  forty-one  kinds  of  mixed 
drinks. 

The  Union  Club  of  New  York  was  organized  June 
17,  1836 ;  first  club  house  No.   343  Broadway ;  May, 


Dining  at  the  Ci,ubs.  145 

1842,  No.  376  Broadway;  October,  1850,  No.  691 
Broadway  ;  April,  1855,  Fifth  Avenue  and  Twenty- 
first  street.  First  president,  Samuel  Janes  ;  second 
president,  John  C.  Stevens  ;  third  president,  John  A. 
King- ;  fourth  president,  Moses  H.  Grinnell ;  fifth  pres- 
ident, William  M.  Evarts ;  sixth  president,  William 
Constable  ;  seventh,  John  J.  Townsend,  elected  June 
13,  1883. 

The  present  president  is  John  J.  Townsend  ;  vice- 
president,  William  H.  Appleton ;  treasurer,  Herman 
Le  Roy ;  secretary,  Henry  Bibby ;  trustees,  William 
M.  Evarts,  John  L.  Cadwalader,  J.  J.  Townsend  ;  gov- 
erning- committee,  W.  H.  Appleton,  H.  W.  T.  Mali, 
J.  O.  Proudfet,  S.  D.  Babcock,  Chester  Griswold,  Henry 
de  Forest  Weekes,  H.  W.  Bibby,  Franklin  Bartlett, 
John  J.  Townsend,  R.  G.  Remsen,  Herman  Le  Roy, 
James  H.  Beekman,  Edward  Cooper,  Grenville  Kane, 
H.  H.  Hollister,  James  Benkard,  Lawrence  Wells, 
Clarence  A.  Seward,  A.  Newbold  Morris,  James  L. 
Barclay,  George  B.  Post,  Louis  Mesier,  William 
Parsons,  John  Lawrence. 

Members  of  clubs  have  often  been  known  to  send 
their  chefs  to  take  lessons  under  the  superb  eye  of  the 
club's  supreme  chef.  It  is  considered  the  highest 
compliment  a  man  can  pay  his  wife  to  say  "he  cannot 
dine  better  at  the  club"— no  higher  praise  upon  one's 
domestic  arrangements  could  be  paid.  The  club  has 
done  this  for  the  good  :  it  has  relegated  the  fried  beef- 
steak, the  toug-h  ribs  of  beef,  to  the  uncultivated  far 
West  and  the  rural  life  of  the  backwoods.  Undoubt- 
edly the  superiority  of  our  present  meals  at  home  is 
due  to  the  host  having  been  educated  at  his  club,  and 
all  dyspepsia  has  been  banished  to  the  limbo  of  the 
past.  The  club  is  really  the  only  place  where  solitude 
can  be  enjoyed  without  intrusion.  Repairs  and  dilap- 
idation never  concern  the  club  man  ;  attentive  servants 
await  your  every  order  ;  everything-  provided  is  of  the 


146  Dining  at  the  Ci.ubs. 

best,  and  the  club  becomes  a  well  appointed  home, 
always  brig-ht  and  ready  to  cater  for  the  simplest  ne- 
cessities or  the  most  elaborate  luxuries.  Marriag-e  is 
no  long-er  the  panacea,  as  it  was  under  the  old  order 
of  thing-s,  for  all  the  ills  that  bachelordom  was  heir  to. 

Now,  however,  the  companionship  of  a  home  is 
exchang-ed  for  the  safer  substitute  of  club  men,  and 
the  uncertain  advantag-es  of  matrimony  are  set  aside. 

The  club  man  reasons  this  way  :  "What  are  the 
advantag-es  that  marriag-e  will  bring-  to  counterbalance 
its  disadvantag-es  ?  At  present,  with  my  income  I  am 
well  off ;  the  club  supplies  me  with  all  my  wants,  and 
my  movements  are  unfettered.  If  I  marry  I  become 
at  once  a  poor  man,  with  all  the  mortifications  and 
privations  of  poverty.  The  charms  of  marriag-e  are 
all  very  well,  but  what  if  they  be  followed  by  anxiety, 
by  boredom,  by  disappointment?  Such  has  been  the 
fate  of  many,  why  should  it  not  be  mine  ?  Even  in  a 
happy  marriag-e  there  must  be  a  vast  amount  of  mo- 
notony." This  is  not  an  unselfish  reasoning-,  it  is  true, 
and  may  be  one-sided,  but  it  appears  to  be  daily  g-ain- 
ing-  g-round,  as  is  evident  from  the  decreasing-  lists  of 
marriag-es. 

Not  the  least  of  the  enjoyment  of  each  club  is  the 
member  who  is  the  self-constituted  critic. 

The  critic  elects  himself  to  sit  and  g-rind  out  every 
fault  he  can  find. 

The  critic  never  has  been,  and  never  will  be,  put 
on  any  committee  for  g-overning-  purposes. 

The  critic  has  tried  club  g-ambling,  but  never 
made  it  pay. 

The  critic  hates  sport,  travelling-,  society. 

The  critic  hates  one  and  all  of  the  committee  who 
have  shut  up  any  part  of  the  house  rooms  for  repairs ; 
those  rooms  he  alone  desires  to  use. 

The  critic  wants  the  same  table  to  dine  at,  the 
same  paper,  the  same  servant,  the  same  window.      If 


Dining  at  tiii-  Cluej 


147 


the  slig-htest  thing-  goes  wrong-  in  a  club — ventilation 
imperfect,  sanitary  arrangements  out  of  order,  waiters 
inattentive,  books  missing- — the  critic  immediately 
seeks  out  one  of  the  g-overnors  and  makes  his  life 
miserable. 

The  critic  is  irritatingly  inquisitive  as  to  every 
detail  of  club  expenditure,  and  declines  to  be  soothed 
with  the  brief  statement  of  the  committee's  circular. 
The  critic  "wants  to  know  the  reason  why."  A  little 
flattery  from  the  chairman,  or  the  committee's  smiles 
will  not  sooth  him,  and  he  is  the  terror  of  the  servants  ; 
he  is  the  great  authority  on  club  etiquette,  but  every- 
thing- outside  the  club  he  views  with  supreme  indiffer- 
ence. Quiet  comfort,  g-ood  living-,  freedom  from  re- 
sponsibility and  anxiety  are  the  g-reat  desidarata  of 
his  life.  The  critic  is  hopeless  to  conversion.  Nothing- 
but  the  cemetery  will  exclude  him  from  the  club  after 
the  sands  are  run  out  of  life's  hour-glass.  He  fairly 
believes  that  if  he  were  to  leave  the  club  it  would  fall 
to  the  ground.  Such  is  the  difference  of  the  estimate 
we  form  of  ourselves,  and  others  form  of  us. 


148 


Fzirrping  for  Ple^5ure, 


N"0  man  among-  racing*  men  has  in  his  day  had 
more  jeers  and  more  satire  thrown  at  him 
__  _L  than  Mr.  D.  D.  Withers,  whom  every  one 
knows  as  the  owner  of  the  funereal  black  his 
jockeys  have  wrapped  themselves  in  this  many  a  year. 

But  these  lads  have  as  often  turned  the  tables 
upon  his  critics.  Nor  will  the  handsome  presents  the 
jocke3^s  received  after  successful  racing"  be  very  soon 
forg-otten  by  them. 

Mr.  D.  D.  Withers  is,  in  point  of  fact,  the  auld 
lang-  syne  of  the  turf,  and  with  all  his  foibles  he  is  the 
great  landmark.  Although  not  near  the  fourscore 
and  ten,  still  he  is  not  a  young-  man  by  any  means. 
Mr.  Withers  ages  in  appearance  very  little  as  the  years 
fly  on.  Aiwa}' s  neatly  dressed,  blunt  of  speech,  su- 
perb of  integrity,  his  presence  exerts  a  wholesome 
corrective  influence  on  the  modern  spirit,  which  has 
lowered  the  sport  of  king-s,  from  a  contest  for  honor 
into  a  lust  for  long-  odds. 

Mr.  Withers  is  a  brig-ht  example,  as  a  g-entleman 
should  be,  of  those  who,  all  for  the  sport's  sake,  rarely 
bet  upon  his  own  or  the  entries  of  others.  No  cooler 
head  exists  at  the  front  of  a  g-rand  stand  when  a  row 
is  on  the  tapis,  nor  firmer  hand  to  put  it  down. 

Among-  the  many  peculiarities  of  Mr.  D.  D. 
Withers,  and  there  are  not  a  few,  he  likes  having-  his 
racing-  blood  to  himself,  and  therefore  does  not  permit 
his  sires  to  serve  others,  or  puts  the  price  at  a  prohib- 
itive fig-ure.  Although  stern  of  mood  when  he  is 
crossed,  his  hand  is  ever  open  and  his  heart  is  warm. 
Above  all  thing-s  he  hates  naming-  his  horses  until 
victorious,  and  prefers  to  let  the  people  g-rope  hope- 


Farming  for  Pi^easure.  149 

lessly  among-  the  sons  of  King  Krnst  or  other  sires,  as, 

for  instance,  B.  C. ,  two  yrs,  by  King  Krnst,  out  of 

Arnica,  and  so  on.  In  farming  Mr.  Withers  is  an  im- 
portant man  in  Eastern  New  Jersey,  and  of  short 
horns  and  many  of  the  different  varieties  of  herds 
Mr.  Withers  is  quite  an  expert.  He  has  a  beautifully 
laid  out  farm  near  Mattawan,  and  a  very  complete  one 
it  is.  Everything  is  grown  suitable  to  the  soil  and 
climate.  Indeed,  there  are  few  farmers  in  that  section 
of  the  country  that  are  better  posted  on  the  green 
crops  or  g-rass  alluvial  soils,  or  which  is  worst  or 
which  is  best.  The  farm  lies  in  a  richly  wooded  grass- 
land country,  and  has  the  appearance  of  having  been 
extensively  enriched  with  fertilizers. 

Mr.  Withers  has  a  rival  farmer  in  Mr.  P.  Lorillard, 
who  is  one  of  his  esteemed  friends.  You  can  find  at 
Rancocas  farm  that  no  keener  sportsman,  in  every 
sense  of  the  word  exists  than  Mr.  Pierre  Lorillard. 
He  it  was  that  bought  his  thousand  acres  of  land  at 
Jobstown,  Burling-ton  county,  N.  J.,  from  Squire 
Conover,  a  great  landed  proprietor  of  this  county. 
When  Mr.  Lorillard  took  possession  of  the  place  it  had 
all  the  characteristic  features  of  New  Jersey  farms. 
Everything  had  been  done  to  make  the  place  unin- 
viting* by  Mr.  Conover,  and  abhorrent  to  a  well-bred 
city  man.  But  when  Mr.  Pierre  Lorillard  took  hold 
of  it  he  added  from  time  to  time  hundreds  of  acres, 
and  the  farm  soon  blossomed  into  a  cultivated  spot  fit 
for  a  kingly  retreat.  Large  and  lavish  structures 
were  built  without  regard  to  expense.  Housings  for 
cattle  of  every  description  sprung  up,  that  were  suffi- 
ciently inviting-  almost  for  a  human  residence.  Scien- 
tific draining-  was  put  everywhere  into  being.  Race 
tracks  and  training  paddocks  soon  abounded,  and  the 
place  is  to-day  a  superb  model  of  an  estate  that  any 
g-entleman  of  cultivated  agrarian  tastes  would  look  at 
with  longing  eyes.      Seeing  is  believing  and  it  is  im- 


150  Farming  for  Pi^easure. 

possible  to  describe  the  many  attractive  and  lovely 
features  that  surround  the  Rancocas  farm  that  has 
been  endowed  so  abundantly  by  Mr.  Lorillard. 

It  is  doubtful  if  such  hig-h-caste  sheep,  dog-s, 
ducks,  cows,  bulls,  or  the  thoroug-hbred  horse,  and 
well-bred  variety  of  cattle  are  so  plentiful  upon  any 
other  sing"le  farm  in  the  world.  Their  abundance  is  pro- 
lific at  the  Jobstown  Rancocas  farm.  Mr.  Lorillard's 
family  are  supplied  abundantly  from  this  farm,  and 
his  friends  are  constantly  in  receipt  of  larg-e  quantities 
of  supplies  for  table  use  from  Rancocas.  There  will 
be  many  sorrowful  people  when  Mr.  Lorillard  sells  the 
place. 

But  Mr.  Lorillard  is  a  votary  of  all  sports.  He 
delig-hts  in  surrounding-  himself  with  cheerful  people. 
The  place  reminds  one  of  a  g-reat  landed  estate  in 
Eng-land,  where  the  merry-hearted  tollg-ate  keepers 
beg-uile  their  leisure  hours  in  clipping-  the  g-arden 
hedg-es  into  fantastic  shapes,  here  an  urn  and  there  a 
crowing  cock,  and  who  in  the  hunting-  season  would 
not  rest  short  of  a  horse  and  rider,  and  put  the  man 
into  a  scarlet  coat. 

Mr.  Lorillard's  sons  are  passionately  fond  of 
sport,  hunting-,  shooting-,  driving-,  swimming-,  or  in 
fact  any  of  the  athletic  amusements.  Cross-country 
riding-  is  the  particular  fancy  of  Mr.  P.  Lorillard,  Jr., 
and  Mr.  N.  G.  Lorillard,  g-enerally  known  as  Griswold. 
Speaking-  of  hunting-,  so  fashionable  here  and  in 
Kurope,  reminds  me  of  a  devoted  follower  of  the 
hounds,  one  Stephen  Wood,  who  was  blind.  He  fol- 
lowed the  hounds  at  eighty-four  years  of  age  without 
a  guide.  History  does  not  relate  how  it  was  done. 
Rev.  K.  Stokes,  of  Blaby,  England,  was  also  blind. 
He  hunted  with  attendants,  who  had  a  little  bell  rung 
whenever  he  was  at  a  fence.  A  blind  officer  performed 
still  more  boldly  with  the  "Dukes,"  but  a  friendly 
voice  was  sufficient  for  him.      Referring  to  the  Loril- 


Farming  for  Pi^kasurk.  151 

lard  place  at  Jobstown,  it  should  be  said  that  the 
scenery  through  which  you  pass  to  it  is  beautiful. 
There  are  valleys  bursting-  forth  with  living  beauty 
and  grandeur  and  the  Rancocas  River,  from  which 
the  Rancocas  farm  derives  its  name,  is  a  superb  stream, 
moving,  as  it  does,  in  its  serpentine  form  in  all  sil- 
very brightness.  Intelligent  admirers  of  greatness 
and  beauty  are  overwhelmed  with  the  superb  autumnal 
beauty  bordering  its  course  at  this  period  of  the  year. 
About  the  house  itself  everything  is  in  keeping  with 
the  wide  entrance  hall  and  massive  stairs  and  the 
wainscoted  parlor.  China  of  many  patterns — yellow, 
blue,  green  and  claret — are  on  the  shelves.  Looking 
out  of  the  windows  occasional  sheeted  strings  of 
racers  can  be  seen,  and,  near  by,  well-bred  ewes  and 
other  fine  live  stock.  Hanging  on  the  walls  are  the 
gallery  devoted  to  the  heroes  of  field  and  fold.  All 
the  short  horn  and  the  long  horn  creatures  and  horse- 
loving  family  are  there.  For  many  years  Mr.  Lorillard 
has  been  a  quiet  but  extensive  contributor  to  the  herd 
book,  and  there  are  numerous  entries  traced  to  good 
and  ancient  families  from  his  raising  in  it. 

A.  J.  Cassatt  is  another  member  of  our  racing 
families,  who  is  a  thoroughbred  sportsman  and  a 
gentleman  in  every  sense  of  the  word.  He,  too,  is  pas- 
sionately fond  of  his  farm  life,  and  lives  the  life  of  a 
country  gentleman.  It  is  one  thing  to  possess  wealth 
and  another  to  know  how  to  expend  it.  Mr.  Cassatt, 
if  he  bets  at  all,  or  ever  backs  his  entries,  does  so  only 
in  sufficiently  large  sums  to  make  it  interesting.  Mr. 
Cassatt  loves  sport  only  for  sport's  own  sake,  and 
prosecutes  racing  for  the  improvement  of  the  breed  of 
the  thoroughbred  horse  and  for  his  own  pleasure. 
No  man  can,  he  thinks,  make  a  living  or  business  of 
racing  without  descending  to  those  vile  practices 
which  have  in  other  parts  leveled,  and  will  eventually 
in  this  country  level,  all  morality  in  its  path. 


152 


Farming  for  Pi^easure. 


Mr.  Cassatt  loves  at  his  farm  to  surround  himself 
with  men  who  can  appreciate  and  tell  a  g-ood  story. 
One  of  his  favorite  jokes  is  that  of  the  Catterick  Bridge 
race  course  in  Eng-land,  a  place  which  has  a  charming- 
association  from  its  old  coaching  and  posting  days. 
This  course  is  one  mile  and  246  yards,  and  was  the 
scene  of  the  post  colloquy  between  the  gentleman 
rider  and  the  starter  which  was  immortalized  in  Punch, 
The  gentleman  jockey  was  asked  by  the  starter  why 
he  didn't  go,  and  replied  that  as  he  had  orders  to  make 
a  waiting  race  of  it,  he  might  as  well  wait  there  as 
anywhere  else. 


153 


Tbe  Decline  of  tbe  Tborougb^re^I. 

(Second  Letter.) 


THE  only  real  arg-ument  for  the  existence  of 
horse  racing,  and  the  raising-  of  thoroughbred 
racehorses,  is  the  improvement  of  the  breed 
of  horses.  Thoughtful  men,  however,  are 
gradually  becoming  convinced  that  horse  racing,  as  it 
at  present  exists  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic,  is  really 
tending  towards  a  deterioration  in  horse  flesh.  The 
importance  of  this  fact,  if  true,  cannot  be  overesti- 
mated, for,  once  admitted,  horse  racing  is  without  a 
raison  d'etre.  The  thoroughbred  of  to-day  is  produced 
with  the  sole  object  of  furnishing  an  animal  which 
will  procure  a  liberal  reward  for  its  breeder  and  owner 
at  the  earliest  possible  moment.  According  to  the 
short-sighted  notions  of  most  owners,  two  and  three- 
year-old  racing  affords  this  immediate  return.  Con- 
sequently, it  receives  the  lion's  share  of  attention, 
while  the  racing  of  maturer  animals  is  comparatively 
neglected.  It  seems  almost  unnecessary  to  demon- 
strate the  patent  folly  of  this,  and  certainly  no  sane 
racing  man  can  assert  that  running  youngsters  before 
their  frame  and  bones  have  settled  is  calculated  to  im- 
prove the  breed  of  horses.  High  prices  are  paid  only 
for  racing  stock  which  is  descended  from  the  most 
celebrated  winners.  Size,  shape,  bone,  muscle,  and 
stamina  are  elements  which  are  very  little  considered. 
The  effect  of  this  is  seen  in  the  rapid  decadence  of 
the  English  and  American  draught  horse.  Firstrate 
animals  of  this  kind  must  now  be  imported  from 
France,  where  proper  attention  is  given  to  their  breed- 
ing, and  the  prices  they  command  are  gradually  be- 
coming so  large  as  to  put  them  out  of  the  reach  of 


154  The:  Decwnb  of  the  Thoroughbred. 

the  ordinary  buyer  of  limited  means.  The  racehorse 
shows  but  one  pace — the  g-allop ;  the  walk  and  trot 
are  never  thought  of  in  breeding-  this  animal,  and  the 
sire  and  dam  are  selected  with  the  sole  view  of  in- 
creasing- the  "g-allop  stride,"  and  with  it  the  breeder's 
exchequer.  If  a  tithe  of  the  money  expended  upon 
breeding  two-year-old  and  other  immature  racers, 
could  be  directed  in  the  channel  of  the  horse  for 
draught  purposes,  we  could  now  supply  our  own  de- 
mand for  good  cartage  horses,  and  the  nation's  pros- 
perity would  be  thus  correspondingly  increased. 
Handsome  rewards  for  the  general  utility  horse^  at 
horse  shows  would  go  much  further  towards  improving 
the  breed  than  the  combined  riches  of  our  two  and 
three-year-old  stakes.  The  blooded  horse  of  former 
days  was  very  valuable  in  improving  coarser  breeds 
of  horses,  because  a  fully  developed  five-year-old  was 
more  of  an  ideal  than  a  two-year-old  forced  by  hot- 
house methods  into  an  unnatural  maturity,  full  of  the 
seeds  of  an  early  decay.  The  late  Admiral  Rous  de- 
manded heavy  purses  for  five-3^ear-olds  and  upward  as 
a  remedy  for  this  evil.  He  was  undoubtedly  right  in 
thinking  that  this  would  alone  induce  owners  to  show 
more  mercy  to  young  horses.  Larger  stakes  for  longer 
distances  would  likewise  tend  to  preserve  the  most 
valuable  qualities  of  the  throrughbred.  Some  step  in 
this  direction  is  imperative.  To  a  genuine  lover  of 
horses  it  is  heart-rending  to  see  a  noble  thoroughbred 
on  the  race-track,  crippled  by  having  been  unduly 
forced  at  an  early  age.  It  may  be  said  of  them  as  the 
Spanish  proverb  has  it,  "  El corazon  mmida  las  carnes^^ 
— "the  heart  bears  up  the  body."  But  courage  alone 
will  not  serve  for  breeding. 

Contained  in   a  weak   frame   it   will  not  pull  a 
heavy  load. 


Webster  Family  Library  of  Veterinary  Medicine 
Ciimmings  ScHgoI  of  Veterinary  Medicine  at 
Tufts  University 

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